First of all, I would like to extend a thanks to @greendealcentrl for following me on Twitter. It is much appreciated. However, I got an e-shot from them the other day which I just could not help disagreeing with.

This is the text that was sent in the email:

The Green Deal is the Government’s flagship energy saving plan which aims to transform the UK’s building stock to make all properties warmer and cheaper to run. Since January 28th, all households and businesses are able to benefit from impartial energy advice and ‘pay-as-you-save’ green loans for energy efficiency improvements (covering over 40 measures, including everything from loft insulation and boilers to lighting and renewable energy technologies).

58,124 Green Deal Assessments have been completed since the launch of the Green Deal, on 28th January, and the end of July, with 13,645 being completed in July, official Government statistics have revealed.

The DECC report also highlighted that 175 million worth of contracts had now been let through the ECO brokerage system, compared to the 145m at the end of June. View the full report here.

These fantastic statistics clearly highlight how the Green Deal is going from strength to strength, despite a relatively low-key launch. The Green Deal is going to be ‘big business’ and those looking to get a piece of this new industry will need to meet the required standard.

Now we know from a post the other day that only 132 people out of those 58,000+ assessments carried out have actually signed up for Green Deal work. Anyone can have an assessment done, but after that it is up to the home owner to decide whether to have the work done. We have to question as to why the scheme is currently running at a take up rate of well under 1%.

Boasting about tens of thousands of assessments is misleading in itself. Are these 58,000 residential or council housing assessments. If it’s council housing then it’s no real success as the Green Deal is really only functioning on a social housing basis anyway. If it’s residential, 132 takers of Green Deal measures are severely poor. Yes there may be some that will decide on having the work done later in the year, and that figure will go up, but right now, Greg Barker’s target of 10,000 people signed up to Green Deal looks to be laughably optimistic.

This has been my frustration since the scheme officially went live at the start of this year. On one hand we have had reports almost every week describing new a various failures due to Green Deal. On the other hand, we have emails and accounts out there really boasting about Green Deal. Wrongly in my opinion.

Do not be fooled people. Green Deal has been a complete and utter failure. There has been nothing to report from the fenestration industry. It has ruined the insulation industries. The only ones getting actual work from this are councils wishing to upgrade their existing housing stock. Anything outside that has failed. Period.

So sorry if there are those out there who really believe in this, but you have a real job on your hands if you think you can convince me this scheme is worth anything at all.