A. I am very excited about the Green Deal. I developed the original green concept for David Cameron in opposition and now have the chance to put it into practice in Government. The Green Deal is the largest home improvement initiative since the Second World War and it will provide massive opportunity for small businesses. There are two ways in which we want them to get involved with the Green Deal.
Firstly, as part of the supply chain in delivering Green Deals.This is an opportunity for
small businesses as much as large installers and each business will need to find their unique selling point. We would expect to see small businesses in the role of advisors, perhaps carrying out building assessments and installing measures. We have also designed the Green Deal so that any size of organisation can become a Green Deal provider. This will involve arranging the Green Deal finance plan under which the customer makes their repayments for the work. Small businesses will also be able to partner with a larger Green Deal provider either to act in their supply chain or to act on their behalf.
Secondly, we want businesses to get Green Deals to improve their own
energy efficiency, and ultimately the bottom line. We’re working with the sector to find out what the best incentives will be to encourage uptake.
Q. Your consultation on the Green Deal closed on Jan 18th. What is it informing you about the needs of businesses – and small ones in particular? A. It’s too early to say, but we have worked closely with the business community to develop our policy proposals in the first place.
Q. You are looking at introduce various incentives to get households to take up the Green Deal, but what are you doing to incentivise businesses to take it up? What about discounts on business rates, for example?
A. We’re working with the sector to find out how to motivate them to take up Green Deals. We’re planning a series of business summits for small businesses where I want to hear from them about the challenges they’re facing.
Q. One of the key elements of the Green Deal is the way it’s going to be financed. Homeowners and businesses, we are told, will be able to take out cheap loans at no upfront cost, and pay them back via their energy bills through the energy savings created by energy efficiency measures they install. Where are businesses – particularly small ones – going to be able to access the finance they need?
A. Green Deal Providers will need to source their own finance, this is true for providers offering Green Deals to businesses as well as those working with domestic customers. Therefore, businesses looking to take out a Green Deal will be offered finance as part of the Green Deal offer.
Q. The reality for most businesses is that they don’t own the premises they operate from –often working out of multi-occupier buildings. The tenant landlord relationship is historically not a good one. How are you addressing this problem in the context of the Green Deal?
A. The Green Deal is a good offer to landlords as it enables investment in their property, making homes and flats warmer and ultimately cheaper to run. This will make them more marketable to potential tenants.
But we have to accept that sometimes in life, landlords and tenants will disagree. We are therefore continuing to explore options to make uptake of the Green Deal in the rental sector as easy as possible.
In addition, from April 2018 all privately rented properties, including business premises, must be brought up to a minimum energy efficiency rating of 'E’. It will be unlawful to let a premise that does not reach this minimum standard. This provides a huge spur for landlords to improve their properties and we will work with the sector, in advance of
regulations coming into force, to encourage landlords to use Green Deal finance to fund improvements.
Q. You have set out rules and standards to stamp out shoddy workmanship under the Green Deal. What can you say to reassure businesses, landlords and householders there will be enough well qualified people to carry out the work at a price they can afford?
A. Getting the right people skilled up to deliver the Green Deal is absolutely crucial to its success. We have been working closely with businesses and the Sector Skills Councils to ensure that the standards we put in place are both robust and deliverable. Only those installers who are certified as competent under our new standard will be able to operate under the Green Deal.
The Sector Skills Councils have formed the Green Skills Alliance to better co-ordinate their approach and ensure that the necessary
training is made available where required to both re-train the existing workforce and young apprentices.
Q. The Green Deal aims to address the energy inefficiency of our buildings, but a growing concern for businesses is energy security. Will they, therefore, be able to use the Green Deal to invest in on-site renewable energy to insure themselves against potential blackouts?
A. First and foremost, there’s no point in putting in something like a renewable heat pump if the heat disappears out of un-insulated walls or draughty windows. That’s why the whole house approach of the Green Deal is so crucial, it’ll prevent situations like this from happening.
Microgeneration measures, like solar panels or wind turbines, will be eligible for Green Deal finance although in the short-term they are unlikely to be fully paid for as the savings do not fully exceed the costs. If someone is claiming a subsidy already, like a Feed-in Tariff, then they won’t be able to claim Green Deal finance.
