Poor marks for Green Deal

The Council sets out its views in a new report – Green Deal Finance: Examining the Green Deal interest rate as a barrier to take up – and suggests that the current rate of 8-10% is too high. A more attractive rate could provide the boost the scheme needs to succeed.

Paul King (pictured), Chief Executive of the UK Green Building Council, says: “While the Green Deal is the cornerstone of the UK’s retrofit policy, it has so far massively under delivered. Government has to step in to create incentives that encourage homes into taking action and be prepared to prioritise capital spending on energy efficiency. Underwriting the Green Deal – as Government has done with Help to Buy – would provide a huge shot in the arm for the retrofit industry.”

The Federation of Master Builders has also produced an analysis of the Green Deal on its first anniversary. The FMB’s ‘Green Deal Report Card’ is based on a survey of small builders and potential energy efficiency installers who gave it  an overall two out of a possible five marks.

The category of marketing and communication scored the lowest (1/5), with the FMB suggesting that Government should do more to reach the public. The remaining categories – GD finance, Motivating Energy Efficiency Improvements, SME Installer Engagement and Use of Incentives – all scored 2/5.

Brian Berry, FMB Chief Executive, comments: “The Government needs to accept that the Green Deal’s first year has been underwhelming at best. The single most effective measure to kick-start demand would be to reduce the rate of VAT from 20% to 5% on all domestic repair and maintenance work, including energy-efficiency improvements. This would be a real incentive to homeowners across the board to think about getting a professional tradesperson in to quote on a variety of repair and maintenance projects.”