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Green Homes Grant Needs More Time
The government is under pressure to extend the green homes grant scheme beyond March 2022 after a committee of MPs described current progress as moving at...
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Woefully Inadequate - Green Homes Grant Extended But Ridiculed
The Green Homes Grant voucher plan has been extended to March 2022 - but the Environment Audit Committee has said the scheme is 'woefully inadequate' as the vouchers won't come near paying for anything worthwhile.
The idea, dreamed up by the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS), was to issue UK homeowners with vouchers to cover most of their energy efficiency upgrades. With those on reasonable incomes paying one-third of the cost (with a voucher worth up to £5,000) or those on low incomes getting £10,000 and not required to contribute.
Measures covered include insulation of walls, floors and roofs, double or triple glazing when replacing single glazing and low-carbon heating such as heat pumps.
Hugely underestimated
The problem those that appeared before the Environment Audit Committee identified (or were pushed to identify by one of the fiercest cross-party committees) is that BEIS has hugely underestimated the cost or the permitted energy upgrades - and the fact that to get up to 19 million energy-inefficient UK homes sorted would cost an average of over £24,000 each according to figures obtained and presented by the Committee Chairman Conservative MP Philip Dunne.
Although the vouchers might be worth £5,000, BEIS had estimated each one redeemed would be at an average value of £4,700...and the Treasury then estimated it to be even lower than that - at a ridiculous £3,000 a go.
No idea
Housing Minister Christopher Pincher, Energy Minister Kwasi Kwarteng and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury Kemi Badenoch were all in front of the Environment Audit Committee. Badenoch was asked by Dunne: “You will have signed off the Green Homes Grant and applied specific amounts which individual households could apply for. You must have done that with some understanding of the cost of the measures it is supposed to be funding?” When Badenoch answered that the Treasury had applied its own estimates, Dunne, somewhat exasperatedly asked: “So you haven’t challenged those figures, you’ve just accepted them although I’ve just given you evidence that they’re woefully inadequate?”
Not here to talk about Grant
Pincher curiously declined to make much comment as he is responsible for new build homes, whilst Kwarteng said his department was trying to reconcile the cost of heat pumps in comparison to boilers. We are trying to figure that out," he said, implying he now recognised even with a £,5,000 government contribution, the amount a homeowner would have to add would not make heat pumps an attractive proposition.
Lack of accredited firms
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party's MP attacked Kwarteng with the fact that only 1,200 companies had been accredited as installers to the scheme by TrustMark (in relation to heat pumps) despite the fact it is the Microgeneration Certification Scheme that accredits installers of heat pumps. However, she did quite rightly ask how so few firms could justifiably been seen as the creators of the 100,000 green jobs that had been promised by the government.
Kwarteng could only state that the extension of the scheme by one year (homeowners originally only had until March 2021 to apply) would see more companies seeking accreditation.
Extension
Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the extension of both the Green Homes Grant and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme in his 10 Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution, designed to help the country build back greener and help reach the UK’s key target for net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
£1 billion will be available next year into making new and existing homes and public buildings more efficient, including through the Green Homes Grant voucher scheme and the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme.
Homeowners could apply for Green Homes Grant vouchers in September and the first were issued on 5 November.
Minister for Climate Change Lord Callanan said: "The Green Homes Grant scheme gives homeowners and landlords right across the country a cheaper way to make their homes more energy efficient and cut their bills – all while making their contribution to tackling climate change.
"The announcement means an extra year to take advantage of this new scheme, helping households and tradespeople who can plan their workload and create new jobs in their communities. I would urge anyone to visit the Green Homes Grants website and see how they could benefit."
Apply for accreditation now
Chief Executive of TrustMark, Simon Ayers, said: "Consumer confidence is not only essential to the recovery of the UK’s economy. We urge any tradespeople who want to be a part of the Green Homes Grant scheme to apply for TrustMark registration and Microgeneration Certification Scheme or Publicly Accessible Standards certification as soon as possible."
Picture: With thanks to moneysavingexpert.com
Article written by Cathryn Ellis
04th December 2020