The shock closure of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) has damaged the sector, according to the director of an online lead generation and installer support company.
Andy Royle, director of Leads2Trade says that the decision to curtail the scheme has left those in the heating and plumbing sector furious. He said that many of the company’s members “are livid at the way this has been handled”.
Royle continued: “After the debacle that happened regarding the feed-in tariff rate we expected future energy schemes to be handled better. It appears we are back to a boom and bust way of operating.
“It’s a setback for the industry as the scheme was working and companies had geared up for it. We now need a long term strategy to provide stability and avoid peaks and troughs going forward. To just can an initiative like this is a very poor show and many members have been in touch with us to vent their frustrations.”
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Royle believes that the whole handling of the fund raises questions over the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECC) handling of energy policy, describing it as a “another PR body blow for the UK’s beleaguered energy plan”.
As a result of the announcement, Leads2Trade has had to cancel online marketing campaigns that it was running in order to generate GDHIF leads.
DECC claimed that a surge in applications meant that the allocated GDHIF budget is now gone, therefore DECC will no longer be accepting applications.
Parliamentary under secretary of state for energy & climate change, Amber Rudd, defended DECC’s actions, stating: “We were always clear there was a budget which is why we encouraged people to act quickly.”
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