Yet again bad news on the Green Deal (http://tinyurl.com/pjg3bhl). No one has actually implemented measures under the scheme - that's Zero houses upgraded since the scheme started. The reaosns:
- flawed ideas about the economics (see my previous comment on Green Deal finances and graph to the right showing Golden Rule not met).
- high interest rates
- the mechanism for the loan which attaches the repayments to your electricity bill.
This was all entirely predictable. Perhaps the government will start listening now.
The only positive element is that money is being pumped into refurbishment through the ECO (Energy Company Obligation). Most of this money is being spent on social housing, but it is also aimed at tackling fuel poverty in the wider housing stock and difficult to treat housing. The ECO needs to be joined up seemlessly with the Green Deal as a top up funding stream that makes the economics attractive. Combine this with lower interest rates and a simpler loan scheme and perhaps it will gain some traction. Perhaps in time energy efficiency measures will become cheaper and fuel prices will go up and eventually the top up funding won't be needed, but that's not where we are now.
December 2, 2013 | tagged 