Hoorah - "7 Make retrofit more financially attractive: Retrofit needs to be made more attractive, whether through the Green Deal or otherwise. Again, our recommendation is that the Government urgently review ways in which it can reduce the interest rate on the Green Deal, which is likely to be through underwriting the financing, in much the same way as it has done with the new-build mortgages. It might also consider introducing additional incentives, including stamp duty and/or council taxes linked to energy efficiency (which could be fiscally neutral), which are looking necessary to galvanise the Green Deal take-up."
Just read through bits of it and the current approach seems to be a recipe for disaster!
Offer expensive loans tied to the property not the owner which will be funded by a reduction in energy costs.
No take up.
O.K. - ban letting of any property which doesn't meet the energy standards.
Properties removed from rental market because costs of upgrading are not competitive.
"By comparison, Government?s intention to outlaw the letting of domestic and commercial buildings with low energy ratings, provides a powerful step in relation to galvanising the industry and sending a clear message to the consumer. We accept however that it would have significant negative impact on housing supply if landlords don?t carry out the necessary improvements and millions of homes become ?unlettable?. "
Interesting one - would this mean a sudden release of loads of environmentally sub standard properties onto the retail (not buy-to-let) market?
Could cause a drop in house prices but no improvement in environmental conditions of housing. Sounds like a vote winner.
Alternatively the costs of upgrading the properties would be passed on to the tenants who would bear the costs (plus mark up) of the improvements. Could find themselves paying the interest on the Green Loans or the interest on the loan to do the work. Higher rents all round. Another vote winner.
What was wrong (in consumer take up terms, not morally) with the old scheme where the power companies provided free or subsidised insulation?
Everyone was keen to get some, loads of houses had their insulation upgraded, most people couldn't work out that they were paying for it through their fuel bills.
AAUI in a nutshell many (if not most) houses that were suitable for the easy pickings of loft insulation and cavity wall insulation have been done (apparently) and work was starting to fall off. The Green deal was supposed to allow the system to move on to the more complicated cases (solid walls etc) -- Chris
No, The problem with the Green Deal is that you are not allowed to "cherry" pick" but have to have the complete package (or nothing)
So the assessor says that you can have roof/cavity insulation that will pay for itself in 3-5 years but that you also must have a replacement boiler and lots of other nonsense that only pays for itself over 25 years (and then only if you discount the funds down at 2%).
Result is that you get a package that has to be paid (at the higher interest rate) for 25 years and unsurprisingly, people say no
No, those that buy lottery tickets have choice to buy or not. No one has choice about paying the several percent levy on their power bill to fund the FIT payments.
But at least participation in the lottery is voluntary. If I could opt not to have any electrickery in my supply from stupid windmills or thieving solar panel installations then I would be happier.
Well as the current fit rate is about 15p and people are paying 16+p a unit its hardly stealing these days. A few more years of inflation and the electricity from solar may be cheaper to buy than that from gas depending on the fracking situation.
Long gone are the days when you got 40+p a unit for fitting panels.
Quite a few of the poor people benefit from "free" panels. Even some local councils have allowed/fitted them to council houses.
There are some greens who try to minimise the amount they export to maximise their profits by fitting "green" measures like immersun but there aren't that many harrys about.
But you can try and get free panels and save some of that cost even if you are poor. It just depends on if rent a roof is OK for your dwelling. But many things are like that, i would like a river to run a hydroelectric plant on but I don't have one.
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