OVERVIEW

The government has established a framework to enable private firms to offer consumers energy efficiency improvements at no upfront cost, instead recouping payments through a charge in instalments on their energy bill. According to the 'golden rule', installation costs should not exceed the amount people are currently paying on their bills – estimated savings will always equal or exceed the cost of the work. The UK has one of the worst-performing housing stocks in Europe in terms of energy efficiency and, with fuel poverty on the increase, it is hoped that the scheme will have both an environmental and social impact. The environmental programme aims to improve every home and business premises in the country and the government have acknowledged that councils have a crucial role to play to ensure the success of the Green Deal.

'The Green Deal will be the biggest home improvement programme since the Second World War. It will be more ambitious than anything that's ever been tried before, reducing energy wastage and saving people and businesses money on fuel bills. It will create jobs, reduce carbon emissions and help secure energy supplies for future generations.' Gregory Barker, Minister for the Environment and Climate Change.

The depth of the fuel poverty problem was starkly made in the Hills Fuel Poverty Interim Report. 2,700 people die each year because they can't afford to heat their homes; this is more than the annual road death toll. Fuel poverty is closely linked to serious health problems, such as respiratory diseases, and these needless deaths must be a priority for government, authorities and suppliers to tackle. The Committee on Climate Change estimates that up to £17bn of support will be required through the Energy Company Obligation to meet the needs of vulnerable consumers and insulate 2.3 million walls by 2020. However, the scheme is only proposing some £2bn of allocated funding. Will legislation create a clear, accountable framework and code of practice for suppliers that ensures quality standards are met and advice is impartial? Given the scale of the scheme, and the vision of street by street roll-out, is there an installation skills gap that needs to be addressed as a priority? Risk and cost issues have not been addressed in detail and there remains a lack of definition in local government and supplier responsibility. Fuel poverty households are continuing to rise, leading to questions on what the full impact of price rises will be and whether the Green Deal home improvement scheme is the silver bullet to solving these, often complex, problems

At Delivering the Green Deal: Building Partnerships, Tackling Fuel Poverty you can learn innovative green finance models that are self-financing, technical innovations such as smart meters and microgeneration, and changes to planning laws that can open up energy efficiency savings and help to tackle fuel-poor households.