The number of Green Deal installers has fallen for the fifth consecutive month, according to official figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC).
The latest figures show that there were 2,397 accredited installer organisations still operating in the Green Deal sector at the end of January 2015. This represents a loss of 117 organisations installing Green Deal measures in just one month.
The loss of installers in January forms part of a wider trend of decline for the scheme, which has experienced a 13% drop in installer numbers since its peak of 2,774 at the end of August 2014.
DECC posits that the decline in numbers can be attributed to a number of installer organisations not renewing their membership when it was due for annual renewal. The scheme has faced criticism from installers for failing to provide a significant amount of installation work, with DECC admitting that the loss of installer numbers would include some companies choosing to voluntarily exit the scheme before their renewal date.
The latest figures show that there were approximately 1,337,000 energy efficiency measures installed under ECO, Cashback, Green Deal Plans and Green Deal Home Improvement Fund to the end of December 2014 – the latest figures DECC holds for ECO. However, almost all of the million plus measures were installed under ECO (97%).
The latest Green Deal figures do show that the scheme is experiencing some growth, with 9,583 Green Deal plans in the system at the end of January 2015. Of these, 2,525 were ‘new’ (quote accepted), another 1,752 were ‘pending’ (Plan signed) and 5,306 were ‘live’ (all measures installed). The number of Green Deal plans in progress represents a 15% rise from December’s figures.
