Public mistrust of the “big six” energy firms may undermine the UK government’s planned Green Deal, according to the International Energy Agency.

The energy firms are supposed to deliver a mass programme of home insulation under the Deal. The IEA warns that customers could be deterred by high prices and instances of poor service and mis-selling.It says the government needs to tell people more about the benefits of insulating their homes.

This international attention on the Green Deal may prove uncomfortable for ministers who have already been facing complaints that The Green Deal does not do enough to help the 8.5 million people heading for fuel poverty, and has not been publicised enough.The Prime Minister recently discussed problems with the Green Deal after Cabinet Office officials took evidence from critics.

Andrew Warren from the Association for Conservation of Energy told BBC News: “The IEA report echoes what we have been saying. Allowing the energy companies to lead on the Green Deal would be a mistake given the lack of public confidence. “It can only succeed with new policy incentives and potentially trusted firms doing the work.”

Source: BBC News 30th May 2012

The Green Deal has been under scrutiny in Downing Street this afternoon after warnings that it is liable to fail.

The Cabinet Office interviewed critics of the scheme and reported their concerns to the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Secretary.
The Deal – to insulate the UK’s aged housing stock – is designed to save carbon emissions, keep people warm, and make energy affordable. But critics say it won’t give enough help to the fuel poor.

They say this is a scandal after the recent warning that the number of people unable to afford their energy bills is likely to rise to 8.5 million. They also warn the Deal may waste £2-3bn of people’s energy bills.

A Downing Street spokesman said the meeting was routine, adding: “The Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister are fully committed to [the Green Deal].” But he said many issues over the scheme, due to launch in the Autumn, were still to be resolved. This will come as a relief to the many critics of the Deal.

The Green Deal is split into two parts. The larger part relies on householders voluntarily taking pay-as-you-save loans to cut energy bills through home insulation. The private sector is supposed to deliver the improvements.

The other part of the programme, known as ECO, will subsidise people to insulate their homes if they can’t do it without help. This will be funded through a £1.3bn-a-year charge against all of our energy bills.

Source: BBC News 16th May 2012

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has said that despite its recent cut in electricity prices, rising wholesale gas costs will make supplying energy to UK households more expensive this year.

It said gas costs would be 15% higher next winter, while other costs would add another £50 to the cost of supplying energy to the average home. “The trend for retail energy costs therefore remains upwards,” it said.

In January, British Gas announced a 5% cut in its standard electricity tariff.The price cut came after a 16% rise in electricity prices and an 18% rise in gas prices for British Gas customers in August last year.

“Any further increases will see even more people seriously struggling to afford their bills,” said Tom Lyon, of price comparison website Uswitch. “We would urge all suppliers to hold fire for as long as possible and to ensure that if they do move it is only in response to a sustained upward trend. It is also important that they recognise the impact it will have on their customers.”

Source: BBC News 11th May 2012

Insulation company Superglass Holdings has warned future trading could be hit by UK government plans to improve the energy efficiency of homes.

Ministers intend to move from a scheme which gives grants for home insulation to a new mechanism which eliminates the need for householders to pay upfront for energy efficiency measures.

The move to the new ‘Green Deal’ is due before the end of this year. But Superglass said there was uncertainty over how it would operate.
The Stirling-based company raised its concerns as it reported it had completed a refinancing package at the end of last year after suffering financial difficulties.
Nearly 190 jobs at the company were safeguarded after the firm raised almost £8m and agreed to reduce its debt.
In its interim results for the six months to the end of February, it reported revenue was up 14% to £17.2m.
Superglass said recent sales activity related to the current Carbon Emissions Reduction Target Scheme (CERT) – which gives grants to households insulating their homes – was encouraging, but pointed out the programme was due to expire at the end of 2012.
It added: “Thereafter, as noted above, the impact of Green Deal and its effect on Superglass’ business remains very difficult to predict at this time.
“There is some encouragement to be drawn from recent government announcements but we believe more initiatives are needed to ensure a smooth transition from CERT to Green Deal and, in the absence of such further initiatives, future trading could be adversely impacted.”

Turnaround

In reporting the company’s latest set of results, chairman John Colley said Superglass was making progress in its turnaround.
He said: “It has completed its refinancing and is on the way to delivering the capital investment programme that was at the heart of the fundraising.
“It is seeing the benefit of increased volumes of CERT-related activity and has been able to sustain price increases in the market.
“Tight control continues to be exercised over costs and working capital. However market conditions remain difficult.
“There is uncertainty over how the UK government’s flagship environmental policy Green Deal will operate and Superglass remains a company in transition.”

Source: BBC News 24th April 2012

When it launches this autumn, the green deal will become the most ambitious home improvement programme since the second world war. It is at the heart of the coalition’s strategy. A plan to improve the nation’s draughty homes at no upfront cost, not just to green our economy but to also help family’s improve their homes, cut their fuel bills and with that, reduce the UK’s dependence on expensive imported fossil fuels.

To some people this sounds too good to be true and others have misinterpreted existing research or just got their facts plain wrong. So I want to address some of the myths about the green deal that seem to be doing the rounds:

1. People won’t save money

People can expect to save money. There will be two assessments to help consumers see for themselves how much they stand to save. The first assessment will take account of the average energy use of the home, and the second will look at how the occupants use the home so they can enter the green deal knowing how best to maximise what they will save. The green deal charge will be fixed from the start too and is designed to ensure money is saved based on existing energy prices. So if energy prices rise, which seems likely, savings will substantially increase.

2. The method used to calculate the savings is inaccurate

This isn’t true. The standard assessment procedure (SAP), which is what we use to calculate how much people will save, is based on a survey of thousands of homes and is being constantly updated to take account of the latest research and experience of energy saving measures.

3. A number of surveys and pilots have shown that people don’t save

Research highlighted recently in the media was based on a handful of homes and included a wide range of home improvements beyond what was necessary to reduce their bills. Further, the trials were not done to green deal standards as they included a number of measures that won’t be fully funded under the Green deal like solar heating which will be subsidised under a different scheme. Therefore they were not testing the green deal.

Clearly government can’t guarantee people will save money if they then change the way they use energy, for example by heating their home for longer each day. But they should still save money compared to what it would have cost to power their home in that way without a green deal.

4. People will have to pay for improvement work if they want to build a conservatory

This is simply not true. Standard sized conservatories are not included in the plans that the Department for Communities and Local Government has been consulting on.

5. People will be forced to take out a Green deal

This is absolutely not true. The green deal is simply one option for funding energy efficiency measures which people may wish to consider, but no one will be compelled to take out a green deal Plan. Further, green deal is not personal debt nor standard credit scored as the finance will be attached to the electricity bill of the property.

In the next few weeks and months, working closely with the private sector and local authorities, we will put in place the final details of the scheme. I have no doubt that after it has gone live, with the benefit of real life experience, we will want to come forward with improvements to the way it works and in due course, additional incentives and appropriate penalties to keep it on track, as well as take account of exciting new technologies as they become available.

However the basic green deal framework for allowing people to make improvements to their home without any upfront cost which can then be paid for through electricity bills over 25 years, from the very savings they create, leaving people better off; that is rock solid.

This item was written by Greg Barker and published in The Guardian on the 13th April 2012

1940s Prefab home transformed with Insulated Render

In this episode, the DIY SOS team transformed a 1940s prefabricated house in Dartford into a warm home for the future.

Post-war ‘Prefab’ homes were only designed to last for around 15 years, but 60 years later many of them still exist as crumbling wrecks that are incredibly cold and draughty.

The house in this programme was completely wrapped in a thermal render to significantly reduce heating bills. A thermal imaging camera was used before and after the insulation process. The house showed heat pouring out of the walls, but there was virtually no heat loss after the insulation was applied to the external walls. There was a 75% improvement in the energy efficiency of the house.

The property was totally transformed in appearance and energy efficiency, a house ‘fit for the future’.

British Gas, owned by Centrica, is putting up its domestic gas and electricity prices from 18 August.

Gas bills will rise by an average of 18% and electricity bills by an average of 16%.

The company blamed the rising wholesale cost of gas, which has gone up by 30% since last winter.

The change will affect nine million households with the average dual fuel customer paying an extra £190 a year.

Richard Lloyd of the Consumers’ Association ‘Which’ said, “Many people are  already having to cut back on essentials because of the rising cost of living, and with energy bills rising further, this could be a cold winter for many.”

There has never been a better time to insulate your home, making it warmer, quieter, more comfortable to live in and cheaper to run. Solid wall insulation creates a ‘blanket’ around the outside of your home; it reduces the rate at which heat can escape through the walls and cuts heating costs by up to 40%.

The Energy Bill which provides the legal framework for the Green Deal Scheme received its second reading in the House of Commons earlier this month. 

Green Deal is the centrepiece of the Coalition’s flagship Energy Bill which will be introduced in 2012. It is a national plan of home improvements to make houses and businesses cheaper to run through better energy efficiency. It will also benefit those in rented accommodation because landlords will be able to upgrade their properties with the availability of new finance options.

The most energy inefficient homes in the UK could save an estimated average of £550 per year under the Green Deal.

Greg Barker MP (Coalition Climate Change Minister) commented, ‘We said we’d be the greenest government ever, and the Green Deal shows we mean it.’

Ross Fortec is now able to offer grants for External Wall Insulation.  The Government has instructed fuel suppliers to offer insulation grants to homeowners to reduce energy use in the home.

A solid 9” brick wall has a ‘U value’ of around 2.0. In order to qualify for a grant, the ‘U value’ of the property must improve from 2.0 to 0.3. The ‘U value’ is a measure of heat loss, so the lower the ‘U value’ the less heat is escaping through the walls. Installing 60mm Phenolic External Wall Insulation would reduce the U value to 0.3, bringing the property up to current building regulation standards.

The grant for a 3 bedroom semi-detached property heated by gas would typically be in the region of £740. The grant would be higher for properties heated by electricity, oil or coal. Grants are available to all homeowners; it is not necessary to change fuel suppliers in order to qualify, the grants are not means tested and they do not have to be repaid.

The CERT extension runs from April 2011 to December 2012. Legislation was laid in August 2010 enabling energy suppliers to begin work on the CERT extension immediately. DECC estimate that around 140,000 Solid Wall Insulation jobs will be carried out in the next 21 months, compared to 30,000 completed in the first 2 years of CERT. In 2013 CERT will be replaced by the Green Deal which is likely to focus on supporting Solid Wall Insulation over any other energy saving measure.