The Government has today announced that it is to stop funding the Green Deal Finance Company. As a result, it will also prevent any future funding releases of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
In a statement from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, the Government said the reasons behind the move were low take-up and persisting concerns over the standards of the industry.
New policy
Amber Rudd, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, said, ‘we are on the side of hardworking families and businesses-which is why we cannot continue to fund the Green Deal. It’s now time for the building industry and consumer groups to work with us to make new policy and build a system that works.’[1]
Rudd believes that, ‘together we can achieve this Government’s ambition to make homes warmer and drive down bills for 1 million more homes by 2020-and to do so at the best value for money for taxpayers.’[2]
Pledging to work closely with the building industry and consumer groups, the Government feels that it will find another value for money approach. In addition, a review to be chaired by Peter Bonfield, has been commissioned to assess standards and enforcement of energy efficiency schemes.
‘Dead in the water’
Unsurprisingly, Julie Hirigoyen, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council was not pleased by the announcement. ‘With each passing day, this Government puts an end to another green policy’, she stated, before commenting that, ‘the Government’s strategy on dealing with high energy bills through home energy efficiency is now dead in the water.’[3]
‘While the Green Deal was by no means perfect, the principle of enabling households to install energy saving measures without paying upfront costs was sound. The irony is that the scheme was finally becoming established and the number of plans was growing,’ Hirigoyen continued.[4]
‘This is yet another announcement with no forewarning that will leave the energy efficiency industry battered and bruised,’ she concluded.[5]
[1] http://www.buildingproducts.co.uk/news/government-axes-green-deal-07-2015/