UK: A Euro230m government energy-efficiency scheme which aims to refurbish 14 million homes in the UK has been criticised for putting millions of homeowners in a worse position.
The Green Deal announced on 24 November 2011 will allow homeowners to take a loan to install insulation or other energy-saving measures from October 2012. It is intended that the bill savings from the measures will be larger than the loan repayments.
"But millions of hard-working households will lose existing subsidies for insulating their home and will have to borrow the costs of insulation at commercial rates instead," claimed Steven Heath, of Knauf Insulation.
Although subsidies remain for the fuel poor, Heath said that households struggling to pay rising fuel costs would be adversely affected. "The Green Deal initiative needs to be revised to ensure a sensible, effective transition over the next five years from current green energy subsidies," he said.
The Green Deal proposals allow for up to Euro170 to be given as a cashback offer to homeowners, but that is added to the loan. Richard Lloyd of Which? said, "It's crucial that the Government gets the Green Deal right. If it's not good value for consumers overall, short-term incentives will not be enough."
At the launch of the scheme Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said, "We want the Green Deal to be a game changer for British consumers who've been buffeted by global energy prices." It is hoped that the Green Deal will kick start around Euro16bn of private sector investment over the next decade until 2022.
