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Further Green Deal refinements announced |
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13 Jun 2012, 9:48 PM
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The secondary legislation that will give industry the go ahead to bring the Green Deal energy efficiency market into operation, alongside measures to strengthen consumer protection, reduce industry burdens, and implement the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) has been set out by the government.
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The Green Deal should enable people to pay for some or all of energy efficiency work carried out on their homes with the savings expected to be made on energy bills. ECO, a subsidy from energy suppliers, will provide extra help for those most in need and for properties that are harder to treat.
In addition to setting out the parts of the framework that are already in place, today’s announcements give clarity to the market by detailing next steps to getting Green Deal and ECO rules set by October, including, in legislation to be laid later this week, ensuring support worth around £1.3bn a year to deliver energy efficiency and heating measures across Great Britain to help tackle fuel poverty and climate change. An increased focus on poorer areas should see an extra 100,000 households in low income areas benefitting each year, compared to our original proposals, bringing the total number of low income households and those in low income areas assisted to around 230,000 a year.
Energy Secretary and Climate Change Secretary Edward Davey said: "Following consideration of more than 600 responses to the Government’s November consultation on the Green Deal and ECO, full details of the final policy are set out in the response document published today.
This includes ensuring that robust consumer standards are met, creating a market that balances consumer protection and burdens on businesses. Changes include improved consumer protections such as restrictions on ‘cold calling’, and new rules requiring Green Deal Assessors to declare any commission they might be receiving for carrying out an assessment and any ties to Green Deal Providers. A change to the warranties proposal eases requirements on businesses to hold warranties for the length of a Green Deal Plan while maintaining robust minimum standards of protection for consumers, including 25 year warranties in the case of wall insulation. Improvements for behind the scenes operations make it easier for energy companies administering the Green Deal charging to deliver a smoother customer experience.
Changes have also been made to the ECO to include allow more hard-to-treat cavity walls to qualify for support, and to provide specific support for low income and rural areas. These changes will help the insulation industry, which has been supported by current schemes, transition successfully to take advantage of the new market opportunities created by Green Deal and ECO. An estimated technical potential of around 2.8million hard to treat cavity wall properties will now be eligible under the ECO.
The Government has also confirmed it will introduce the Green Deal through supporting a responsible and controlled approach with full national systems testing. This is to ensure the market has the opportunity to build over the next eighteen months, meeting Government ambitions for a national energy efficiency retrofit across the next decade and beyond.
From August this year accredited certification bodies can submit applications to register with the Green Deal Registration and Oversight Body, and will then be able to register assessors and installers as ‘Green Deal Approved’. Similarly, potential Green Deal Providers will be also able to apply for approval. At the same time, new systems introduced by energy suppliers for the collection of the Green Deal charge will be robustly tested. This will ensure that preparations can be made ready for the next step: the signing of the first Green Deal plans in January 2013, from where the market for the Green Deal will continue to grow.
Today’s publications also include a final impact assessment and associated research, and confirm the appointment of Ofgem to be the ECO Administrator. Also today, guidance for industry sets out which measures will qualify for Green Deal finance and the ECO – 45 in all – providing clarity on which sectors fall within scope and underlining the opportunities for innovation enabled by the Green Deal.
The Government will shortly announce the contract awards for the Green Deal Registration and Oversight Body and the Green Deal Ombudsman and Investigation Service function. This builds on a series of key developments to prepare for the Green Deal and ECO:
Commenting on the proposals, Garry Worthington, Head of Green Deal at Climate Energy, says: “This response has been greatly anticipated, and we expect it to answer some of the questions surrounding the future of energy efficiency in the UK and will help us to further progress with our plans to become a Green Deal provider, as well as helping local authorities and regional organisations move ahead in terms of designing and implementing regional and local schemes.
“The improvements to the consumer protection elements of Green Deal are particularly welcomed. These new safeguards, along with the plans to calculate savings on a daily rather than annual basis, will go a long way in encouraging homeowner and tenants to take advantage of the finance available for energy efficiency improvements.
“However, we are disappointed that the Government remains undecided about its £200m fund to kick-start the scheme. We think the current plans to use this purely as a cash-back incentive over the next two years are mis-guided and that could be used much more creatively to support regional schemes, local innovations, jobs, communities and delivery to give take-up an initial boost. We would also urge DECC to reconsider its support around promoting Green Deal and creating awareness of the scheme.
“Despite these criticisms, we are pleased to see DECC has taken on board our comments regarding excessive costs to providers, and have removed burdens such as the need to offer extended warranties and the compulsory membership to an independent conciliation service.
“Climate Energy has vast experience in carrying our energy efficiency works in some of the most fuel poor areas of the country, so it’s good to see that DECC has introduced a third ECO element in the form of the Carbon Saving Communities Obligation and will be allowing the delivery of non-standard cavity wall using ECO funding. Thanks to these changes, more low income households will be able to benefit from warmer homes and lower fuel bills.”
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