The government said that the decision to end funding for the Green Deal Finance Company was down to low take-up as well as “concerns about industry standards”.
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“Together we can achieve this government’s ambition to make homes warmer and drive down bills for a million more homes by 2020 – and to do so at the best value for money for taxpayers”.
‘We are on the side of hardworking families and businesses – which is why we can not continue to fund the Green Deal, ‘ Said Rudd.
She added that the government will “work with the building industry and consumer groups on a new value-for-money approach”.
Chief executive of the UK Green Building Council Julie Hirigoyen said that the scrapping of the scheme with no notice would leave the energy efficiency “battered and bruised”.
Mark Bayley, Chief Executive, Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) said: “The most important thing at the moment is for us and the Department to reassure those who now have Green Deal finance plans in place and those with approved applications, that today’s announcement does not change anything for them”.
The UK Government is being “penny wise but pound foolish” if it believes getting rid of the Green Deal scheme will save money on consumers’ bills.
She said the Green Deal scheme was finally becoming established just as it was pulled.
The green deal was hailed as “transformational” and the “biggest home improvement programme since the second world war” by ministers when it was launched in 2013. “Fixing our heat-leaking homes is a triple-win policy that can bring down bills, cut carbon emissions, and reduce our dependence on energy imports”.
‘We appreciate that the government must review its energy efficiency priorities and we are grateful to DECC for its considerable support over the life of the GDFC.
Decc said it had also commissioned an independent review into consumer protections and standards around energy efficiency schemes, such as the green deal. Our very strong growth over the past year has been driven by their efforts and investment.
The end of the Green Deal scheme is a victory for common sense, albeit an overdue one. Participants received cash to do work on their home to improve energy efficiency, with this proving more popular than the loan version of the scheme. “With more than two million households in fuel poverty, the Government urgently needs to lay out what plans they have to replace the Green Deal”.
The £24 million set aside for solid wall insulation had been claimed within two weeks. He said this move could generate more tax revenue for the Treasury than it costs to subsidise, an approach which has worked well in Germany.
Ed Matthew, of the Energy Bill Revolution, said the Green Deal had clearly failed in its current form but should be reformed, not scrapped.
By the end of June 2015 measures had been installed in around 10,000 properties using Green Deal finance, with an additional 5,600 Green Deal finance plans now in progress.
Mr Nankivell said: “We recommended a disconnect between the Green Deal and the RHI as this had been identified as a significant impediment to the take up of renewable heating technologies in the domestic sector, and as such we cautiously welcome this announcement”.
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The move is the latest shock to the energy efficiency sector after zero-carbon homes targets were dumped earlier this month.
