Davey unveils £100m Green Deal boost

Ed Davey has announced a £100m boost to the Green Deal in a bid to drive take up of the struggling energy efficiency programme.

The energy secretary announced the boost at the Liberal Democrat conference in Glasgow today, with the cash to be used to reopen the cash-back incentive scheme, called the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, which was closed in July after the first £120m tranche of funding was used up.

The incentive scheme was designed to drive take up of the Green Deal, which has struggled to gain momentum since it was launched at the beginning of 2013.

Speaking to ITV this morning, Davey said: “We’re managing to show that you can go green and you can have low energy bills. The announcement that I’m making today of £100m to help people cut energy emissions and have warmer homes, and indeed cut carbon emissions I think will be really welcome.

“People want to have permanently lower energy bills and the fact that through our Green Deal and the Green Deal investment fund, that will help people make their homes warmer and greener and cheaper.”

John Alker, director of policy and communications at the UK Green Building Council, warned the additional funding was only a “temporary solution” to encouraging home energy efficiency.

He said: “As temperatures start to drop and households turn up their heating, this additional funding is a timely - but ultimately temporary - solution to encouraging energy efficiency.

“There’s no doubt that the Lib Dems understand the importance of home retrofit, and Ed Davey should be applauded for securing the cash from Treasury.

“But we need to move beyond stop-start incentives which damage business confidence.

“This funding could see us through to the General Election, but what happens after that?

“All parties must recognise that home energy efficiency is an infrastructure priority, with public investment needed to support the most vulnerable and to create the confidence for the private sector to scale up investment over the long term.”