News

Green Deal verdict: Heating industry says lessons must be learned

Published: 03-08-2016

• Green Deal described as ‘abysmal’ in new report
• Only £50 million of expected £1.1 billion uptake delivered
• Report welcomed by our Head of External Affairs

The verdict on the Green Deal is in, with MPs describing the scheme as ‘abysmal’, overly complex and requiring excessive paperwork

Our Head of External Affairs, Neil Schofield, has welcomed the highly critical report, saying that ‘lessons must be learned’.

Neil commented: “The verdict of the Public Accounts Committee is damning. Like many others, I was there from the outset, trying to make the scheme workable, but the civil servants at DECC tied themselves up in knots trying to reinvent the supply chain, which made the scheme too bureaucratic and ultimately unworkable.

“In trying to ‘gold plate’ every single aspect of the scheme they failed to understand the dynamics of the heating supply chain and the central role that installers play in the consumer decision-making process.

“Installers are already Gas Safe Registered and the requirement to get PAS 2030 accreditation – which only 3% of UK installers currently have – was unnecessary, bureaucratic and eventually self-defeating, because the UK’s installer base ultimately shunned it.

 “I welcome this report and only wish the heating industry had been listened to from the outset, because we could have played a central role in making Green Deal work. Instead, we were marginalised and our recommendations went unheeded. There are clear lessons that can be drawn from Green Deal, this situation must not be allowed to happen again.”