On the 14th of September, the Energy Bill was debated in the House of Commons, for the last time prior to being passed to the House of Lords, and the Green Deal - a government proposal which aims to reduce the environmental impact of British Homes - was a cause of a significant amount of discussion. The titular "deal" is that homeowners will be able access up to £10,000 to fit energy efficient measures in their homes, and pay back the costs via their fuel bill, otherwise known as "pay as you save." Importantly, it has not been made clear how much funding the Green Deal will actually receive, which is vitally important to the potential uptake of the scheme.
The Green Deal has a "golden rule" that the cumulative cost of the interest, and the cost of the installation should not be higher than people's current energy bills. Keeping the interest on the scheme low is very important, as whilst 56% of people polled were in favour of the scheme, a mere 7% said they would enter into the scheme if the interest rate was 6%, but if it was at 2% they would be "fairly" or "very" likely to enter in.
During the debate, Caroline Lucas MP (Green, Brighton Pavilion) suggested that the interest rates be kept below 2% to keep it accessible to the public, as if Government targets are to be hit, 145,000 homes must be modified every month. However, Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, said that the proposed legislation would not dictate interest rates, instead, it would rely on market forces to decide.
Barry Gardener MP (Labour, Brent North) stated that the Committee on Climate Change gave an estimated figure of £17 billion to insulate 2.3 million solid walls by 2022. Further to this, Andrea Leadsom MP (Conservative, South Northamptonshire) pointed out that the Green Deal is a financial services product, and thus must be regulated by the Office of Fair Trading. There are concerns whether the Office of Fair Trading will be able to adequately undertake this large new body of work.
The Energy Bill will be debated in the House of Lords on the 4th October.
On the 14th of September, the Energy Bill was debated in the House of Commons, for the last time prior to being passed to the House of Lords, and the Green Deal - a government proposal which aims to reduce the environmental impact of British Homes - was a cause of a significant amount of discussion. The titular “deal” is that homeowners will be able access up to £10,000 to fit energy efficient measures in their homes, and pay back the costs via their fuel bill, otherwise known as “pay as you save.” Importantly, it has not been made clear how much funding the Green Deal will actually receive, which is vitally important to the potential uptake of the scheme.
The Green Deal has a “golden rule” that the cumulative cost of the interest, and the cost of the installation should not be higher than people’s current energy bills. Keeping the interest on the scheme low is very important, as whilst 56% of people polled were in favour of the scheme, a mere 7% said they would enter into the scheme if the interest rate was 6%, but if it was at 2% they would be “fairly” or “very” likely to enter in.
During the debate, Caroline Lucas MP (Green, Brighton Pavilion) suggested that the interest rates be kept below 2% to keep it accessible to the public, as if Government targets are to be hit, 145,000 homes must be modified every month. However, Greg Barker, Minister of State for Energy and Climate Change, said that the proposed legislation would not dictate interest rates, instead, it would rely on market forces to decide.
Barry Gardener MP (Labour, Brent North) stated that the Committee on Climate Change gave an estimated figure of £17 billion to insulate 2.3 million solid walls by 2022. Further to this, Andrea Leadsom MP (Conservative, South Northamptonshire) pointed out that the Green Deal is a financial services product, and thus must be regulated by the Office of Fair Trading. There are concerns whether the Office of Fair Trading will be able to adequately undertake this large new body of work.
The Energy Bill will be debated in the House of Lords on the 4th October.
