Guest author Jenny Jones gives her thoughts on the energy market and specifically the Government’s new Green Deal initiative.
People across the UK, in theory, should be clamouring to get a hold of the government’s new Green Deal policy, right? People are always looking to save money these days and one of the biggest savings that can be made is the money-sapping business of energy to your home.
jonsowman / CC BY 2.0
Saving money on energy usually involves an original costly outlay such as replacing a boiler or investing in insulation – be it cavity or loft – it can be expensive.
So the Green Deal which requires no up-front payments, no personal risk and guaranteed benefits for you and the environment sounds perfect. The scheme means that payment for the home improvements are taken through your energy bills and the money stands against the house and not you, the homeowner.
So what’s the issue? Well for starters it doesn’t add up. It all seems too good to be true and smacks of government and big business once again doing a lot of back patting to benefit each other. Also, the agenda behind this deal may have more to do with completely capitalising on the home improvement market – meaning smaller firms such as local tradesman, renewable energy companies and co-ops are forced out of the game.
Even companies who are involved with the Green Deal are scratching their heads as to how the whole thing will work. For example here is what is required; in order to qualify a green assessor who is employed by a green-deal company and then undertakes a green assessment of your house. Then this will be lodged with a green-deal provider who will formulate a green-deal plan for you and then the work will be undertaken by a green-deal installer at the standards set by a green-deal body.
Phew, all for a brand spanking new boiler? Seems like a lot of work!
And of course the aforementioned assessment work that needs carrying out? It could cost anywhere between £100 – £200 just to tell you what work needs to be done. This I suspect, may prove a hurdle for the government to overcome from the off.
My original thoughts are that the scheme may fall flat on its face. There are too many itty bits that don’t seem to fully add up and too many uncertainties associated with the scheme – for starters, is it GUARENTEED to save you money, well, no.
The fact is, there are other more viable schemes that are of a lot more use such as the FIT scheme, which if too much solar/wind energy is produced can be sold back to the grid and there are fewer discrepancies with this scheme.
The scheme was launched on Monday so we have to wait and see if people can commit to such a project, my gut feeling is they won’t, but we shall see….
Author:
Jenny Jones writes about many issues in the energy market and her views and opinions can be read on sites such as The Green Deal and Home Vibe.
