The Green Deal is failing despite the huge sums invested in promoting it.
The Green Deal is failing despite the huge sums invested in promoting it
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has spent more than £3m since last October on advertising and marketing for the Green Deal, the government’s flagship energy efficiency policy.
This is despite the fact that the Green Deal has seen a disastrously low rate of take up.
When former energy minister Greg Barker was asked in March 2013 how many people he expected to have signed up to the deal by the end of the year, he gave 10,000 as a minimum figure.
As Left Foot Forward reported at the start of the year, Barker has since been forced to admit that the actual uptake has been much lower than this:
“We thought we’d do about 10,000 in the first 12 months, but in the first eight months since the plans have been available, there are just under 2,000 in the system. So we’re much lower than we expected.”
The latest figures show that just 2,581 households have had measures installed under the scheme. This represents fewer than one per cent of the households who had a Green Deal assessment.
Nevertheless, the Green Deal’s communications team has expanded by 40 per cent, and now employs 59 people. This includes 12 press officers.
In June 2014, the government announced plans to boost the low level of uptake by introducing a Green Deal Home Improvement Fund. But by the end of July ministers had been forced to close the fund when the money ran out.
This meant that some customers who had already paid for an assessment and expected it to be refunded under the cashback scheme £100 out of pocket.
The government’s figures also show that 440,000 households will miss out on help to install energy efficiency measure that would reduce their bills, because of changes to the Energy Company Obligation.
Jonathan Reynolds MP, Labour’s shadow minister for energy and climate change, said:
“The government’s Green Deal has been a disaster, with 99 per cent of people who have had an assessment saying ‘no deal’. This Tory-led government is wasting money hand over fist on this policy.
“It would have been cheaper to send their advertising executives out in a hired limo with a drill and some lagging to do the work themselves.
“Labour has committed to ending this scandalous waste of money and set out plans to freeze energy bills, reform the energy market and upgrade at least five million homes over 10 years. Our plans will mean cheaper bills and warmer homes for millions.”
In July 2013, a marketing company representing the Green Deal was fined £45,000 for making thousands of sales calls trying to persuade households to sign-up to home energy efficiency improvements.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward. Follow her on Twitter
To reach hundreds of thousands of new readers and to make the biggest impact we can in the next general election, we need to grow our donor base substantially.
That's why in 2024, we are seeking to generate 150 additional regular donors to support Left Foot Forward's work.
We still need another 124 people to donate to hit the target. You can help. Donate today.
12 Responses to “Government blows £3m of Green Deal budget on marketing”
Patrick Casey
Bang on, you have hit the nail on the head ! Apart from the loft hatch, if there is no access then RdSAP assumes building regs apply. So a modern property with no access will differ from an older property with no access, as there probably wasn’t building regulations at the time of construction.
The age of the property has a big bearing on these “unknown values” otherwise assumptions. Another example is “as-built”, the data will be taken from the property age.
If you are reading this and you would like an energy assessment from a proper assessor feel free to visit my site epcrating.co.uk or give me a call 0755 1234 222
Mark Yates
Whilst the Green Deal scheme had shut down earlier on last year after households grabbed all of the available £120m. Good news for home owners – the Green Deal is now back – though, for a limited time.
I just got a Green Deal Assessment to see how Green Deal can help me – sure, if it can help lower my fuel bill then I figure it’s got to be worth a go!I think finding a Green Deal assessor was hard going (there’s quite a few of them!) but as I live in the North West I heard about STL Heating who are decent Green Deal specialists – and that’s who I chose.