Barker urges SMEs to get their views heard on Green Deal

The Government has said it expects the Green Deal to kick-start a £14 billion investment programme over the next decade in energy saving upgrades to households and businesses and it wants SMEs to play a major role in delivering the scheme. It also wants to see small providers of the Green Deal to benefit from up to half of the ECO’s £1.3 billion annual budget. It believes this will make the ECO more cost effective for consumers, encourage competition in the market and ensure smaller Green Deal providers aren’t "crowded out".

But the Green Deal consultation, which ends on January 18, comes amidst growing concerns the flagship energy efficiency policy could fail. The Government has set a target of 14 million homes to be insulated by 2020 and has estimated that at its peak the Green Deal could support up to 250,000 jobs – many of these in the insulation sector. But business groups have warned awareness of the scheme and its benefits remains low, and, according to the Government's own impact assessment, several factors could severely limit the take-up of the scheme, including the hassle of having work undertaken and lack of awareness.

Meanwhile, in December, the Committee on Climate Change, the Government’s climate adviser, warned the Green Deal would get nowhere near its target of 14 million homes. It said the main reason for this was the ECO. The CCC believes limiting the ECO to low incomes and hard to insulate homes will mean the Green Deal will only reach two to three million households by 2020.