The government will no longer provide any further funding to the Green Deal Finance Company, stopping any new Green Deal Loans and Green Deal Home Improvement funds.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) claims that by stopping any further funding it is “protecting taxpayers”. DECC added that it had concerns over the low take-up of the scheme and also over industry standards.
The removal of future funding will effectively bring an end to the Green Deal scheme which was billed as the “biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War” when it was announced but has fallen woefully short of its ambitions.
The government has confirmed that it is looking to implement a new “value-for-money approach” to boost the deployment of energy efficiency measures across the UK.
“We are on the side of hardworking families and businesses – which is why we cannot continue to fund the Green Deal,” said Amber Rudd, the secretary of energy and climate change.
“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. 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.”
DECC has confirmed that the changes will not impact any existing Green Deal Finance Plans or Green Deal Home Improvement Fund applications and vouchers.
The government also confirmed that it has commissioned an independent review to analyse “standards, consumer protection and enforcement of energy efficiency schemes” in order to ensure that consumers and “properly supported and protected”.
Reacting to the announcement, Ed Matthew of the Energy Bill Revolution said: “Few will shed a tear for the Green Deal in its current form. It has clearly failed. But the answer is not to scrap it but reform it. The UK has among the worst insulated homes in western Europe and as a result we waste huge amounts of energy. Zero interest loans to make homes energy efficient would be far more popular and could generate more tax revenue for the Treasury than it costs to subsidise. This has worked in Germany.”
Matthew concluded: “The government needs to make home energy efficiency an infrastructure priority. The Treasury plans to invest £100 billion in infrastructure over the next five years. Just a tiny proportion of this investment could help insulate millions of UK homes and drive down energy bills in the most cost effective way. No other infrastructure investment could achieve so much. “
