Transcript Green Deal - Consumer Focus

Green Deal
Energy Policy into Practice: slides for advisers
What’s the issue?
• Consumers are currently put off installing energy efficiency by
the upfront costs
• The Government plans to introduce a Green Deal – a finance
mechanism by which households can get a package of energyefficiency measures at no upfront cost
• This is then paid for by the residents of the home through a
service charge on their energy bill
• The charge is tied to the property – so you only pay if you’re
benefitting from the measures, and not if you move out
• The main criteria is that expected fuel bill savings will exceed
repayment charge = ‘Golden Rule’.
• But this cannot be guaranteed due to the impact of consumer
behaviour on energy use
Who says what?
The Green Deal has
the potential to help
consumers stop their
houses from leaking
heat, without being offput by high upfront
costs. But Government
must make sure the
rules are clear and are
written in consumers’
favour.
Consumer Focus
Are they really suggesting
25-year financing is the
sensible way to finance
cavity wall insulation or a
loft insulation top-up?
National Energy Services
A strong Green Deal could
warm many of the UK's
draughty houses - but the
cold reality is that it will do
little to help millions of
people shivering in fuel
poverty or living in
expensive-to-improve
homes.
Friends of the Earth
The Government's Green
Deal risks failing to attract the
businesses it needs to deliver
its flagship energy efficiency
scheme unless it provides
greater clarity on how it will
be financed and promoted.
CBI
It's a triple win. It will create a new
competitive market in energy efficiency worth
at least £2.5bn a year. It will create over
70,000 skilled jobs. And it will save an
estimated 9.4m tonnes of carbon.
David Cameron
The new Government
is positioning itself
as the ‘greenest
government ever’ and
has presented one of
the most significant
opportunities in recent
years to reduce carbon
emissions – the Green
Deal.
Existing Homes
Alliance
'The Green Deal
must work for
consumers, not just
for energy suppliers
and providers of
"green" products.
Independent advice,
robust standards and
strong enforcement
are all vital to ensure
that this happens.
Which?
The consumer experience
Consumer Focus is examining the emerging plans, and is calling for:
•
Prioritise fuel poor households, both in terms of direct financial support through the
subsidisation of measures and through targeted programmes
•
Do not allow disconnection of consumers for non-payment of non-energy services
•
Do not limit programmes by technologies, but drive them by success measures of carbon
and cost savings for consumers
•
Join energy supply and energy services consumer protections from first principles, to avoid
consumers falling through gaps, to provide coherent messaging on the low carbon future,
and to avoid duplication of effort
•
Access for all
•
Voluntary initiatives are, unfortunately, unlikely to suffice. We want Government to develop a
social marketing strategy to improve all housing, providing signals to the property market of
what the future may hold. We support regulation of the private rental sector as a first step to
address the worst quality homes that need urgent improvement.
•
Support the development of a competitive market by ensuring all Green Deal providers can
provide consumers the support they are entitled to under the energy company obligation
•
Consumers must have an easy-to-access and robust redress scheme, with a joined-up
accreditation scheme across the full range of low carbon initiatives, including smart meters,
Green Deal and renewables.
Policy challenges?
It is vital that consumer protections under the Green
Deal reflect consumer needs. Evidence is therefore
needed on:
• Impact of disconnection on consumers
• Poor quality energy advice or installation of energy
efficiency measures
– What problems are caused for consumers?
– Do current protections and redress schemes
help or heed them?
Want more information?
The Department of Energy and Climate Change is
responsible for the development of the Green Deal.
Updates are available from
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do
/consumers/green_deal/green_deal.aspx