GREEN DEAL TO BE BEST DEAL FOR
CONSUMER • New Green Deal Code outlined • Green Deal advice line to be set up • Independent body formally appointed to ensure Green Deal assessors and installers meet robust new standards. Climate Change Minister Greg Barker has set out plans to ensure the Green Deal won’t rip off consumers.
The Green Deal is the government’s flagship energy saving plan to transform the country’s homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run. From next year, people will be able to access up to £10,000 upfront to pay for energy efficiency work, repaying the costs through savings on energy bills. Similar support will be available through the Green Deal for businesses and there will be extra help for vulnerable people or those living in homes which need more work than Green Deal finance alone will stretch to.
The legal framework is currently progressing through Parliament under the Energy Bill Greg Barker said:“The Green Deal will be the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War shifting our outdated draughty homes from the past into the future, so it’s vital people can trust it. I have heard too many cases of shoddy workmanship or dodgy technology from Government schemes in the past so from day one there will be strict rules about standards, information will be readily available and there will be a proper route for
complaints. We’ve already started putting in place the foundations for this and I am pleased the United Kingdom Accreditation Service has been formally appointed to ensure that installers and assessors will meet the necessary standards when the Green Deal starts next year.”
In a new document entitled ‘Consumer Protection in the Green Deal’, DECC has set out its plans for consumer protection and redress.
The document includes: • Plans to set up a new Green Deal Code – to protect customers at every stage of the Green Deal from initial assessment to installation.
• Plans to set up a new Green Deal advice line – this will provide impartial advice and referral to accredited Green Deal assessors, installers and providers as well as a route for any complaints.
• The formal appointment of the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) – which will ensure assessors and installers adhere to robust standards in order to participate in the Green Deal.
Solar energy to take the heat off nation’s electricity bills
Pro5, a partnership between five of the UK’s largest formally constituted public sector buying organisations (PSBO) have already established energy contracts for liquid fuel, gas and electricity. Now, the group announce the contract that local government and the wider public sector have been waiting for: free renewable energy. Photovoltaic (PV) solar systems provide the technology behind the free source of energy and will be available to all local authorities and other public bodies nationally as part of Pro5’s new fully compliant Microgeneration Technologies contract.
The contract is estimated to be worth more than £250m over the next four years based on the current and potential interest shown. Users will be able to choose from a wide range of the latest renewable products including: photovoltaic (PV) solar systems, wind turbines, air source heat pumps and biomass boilers to maximise the benefit of on-site renewable energy.
Tom James, Category Manager for Energy at Pro5 member YPO said: “Cutting costs is now essential for local government organisations and the wider public sector. Our new contract offers customers the opportunity to generate their own, renewable energy in line with helping to meet the CO2 reduction targets agreed through the Kyoto Protocol.”
As part of the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Microgeneration Strategy, certain schemes will attract Feed-in Tariff (FIT) and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which will give consumers a fixed price for each unit of energy generated.
Deadline for supplier applications has now closed. |16| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
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