The Green Deal has been slow to get off mark. Well, I say slow, I actually mean it’s still waiting at the starting blocks!
I don’t know about anyone else, but I haven’t heard of any residential interest in the scheme. I know Birmingham City council is undertaking quite a large Green Deal job on, but that is on the existing council housing stock and not the standard residential stock. To be honest, I think this is the market the scheme will do OK in, the council housing, not the free-spending private housing stock. So, with the Government now realising that the Green Deal isn’t making much progress, what is it doing?
It’s bribing people! Maybe not something a typically sleazy as that, but some gentle persuasion. It is stumping up £125m in cash-back incentives to help entice home owners to take on Green Deal measures. As far as glazing is concerned, this is how the money will be divided:
• Window replacement – single glazed to A rated £20 per square metre up to £320 maximum payment
• Doors – £40 per door
• Secondary glazing – £15 per metre squared up to £230 maximum payment
£320 cash back for a house full of windows isn’t the largest amount in the world. You have to ask yourself: “would £320 persuade me to take on a new loan for many years?” Personally, my answer would be ‘no’. What would persuade me to go for the Green Deal as a homeowner would be lower VAT on windows and doors. VAT is a tax in this country which I think everyone would love to get rid of. If us as installers could have gone to the general public and said ‘look, energy efficient windows and doors now only have 5% VAT’, I can almost guarantee it would have made the news. It would have been much easier for our industry to market to the consumer.
I think the industry, and organisations like the GGF would welcome such initiatives to stir interest. But I think the scheme will remain in the social housing domain and not the residential housing domain. There are still just too many reasons to sell against the Green Deal and I think the traditional means of purchasing new windows and doors will remain the main method in the coming years.
yup the councils will be able to do EWI ,windows doors etc and get the benefit its a dead duck for private owners
You describe it as it is!. The National Federation of Glaziers has never been in favour of this scheme. The impossibility of estimating future energy bills is the most obvious flaw in this idea. Consumers will be led into believing that the Green deal will inprove insulation of their homes without cost.
You should certainly be able, despite all the glossly leaflets being produced, and the large company and council involvement, to sell against it.
Hi Anthony,
So under the Green Deal, if the clients were never to pay of the loan due to the possibility of energy prices soaring… what would happen? Would they still owe the balance or would this be written off?
I can’t help but think this will shoot a few people in the foot! Especially if they are currently living to their means… hence the reason they have not been able to afford to replace their windows and doors.
I think there’s another angle to the GD. We all agree that it is designed to improve the energy efficiency of the current UK housing stock. To do this, the GD is providing a funding mechanism but also it is raising awareness of what measures are available. The general public will shortly be bombarded with marketing from the GD providers who are (in the main) trusted and national brands. Here, their eye will be caught by the opportunity to control the ever spiralling energy bills and critically have an ‘independent’ survey completed to tell them exactly what could be done… Read more »
I’ve been told that windows & doors financed through GD will only be subject to 5% VAT. Anyone else know anything about this?
Hi David
I can confirm that this is not true. In fact, a recent statement from the EU has stated that the Govt’s intention of having other home improvement measures like insulation and boilers is actually illegal and will be forcing the UK to bump them back up to 20%. Meaning the Golden Rule is made even harder to achieve!
Hope this helps!
That’s what I thought. Thanks
If this scheme will true so this is very helpful to house owner .
Thank you for nice information.