Wales Office Minister: “Green Deal great for consumers and business”
Wales Office Minister, Stephen Crabb MP, will today visit the British Gas Training Academy in Tredegar to meet British Gas trainees set to become Green Deal assessors.
Wales Office Minister, Stephen Crabb MP visiting the British Gas Training Academy in Tredegar.
The Green Deal is the UK Government’s new initiative designed to transform Britain’s homes and businesses into warmer, more cost-efficient buildings.
The scheme gives homes and businesses a new way of paying for energy efficient improvements, such as insulation and new heating systems. It is also helping to drive an expanding market in housing energy efficiency products, insulation and training to up-skill to meet growing demands.
Mr Crabb will today meet some of those people developing the skills they need to help meet the UK’s energy needs.
Speaking ahead of the visit to the British Gas Training Academy, Mr Crabb said:
“Thousands of homes across Britain are wasting energy and money because of poor energy efficiency, yet demand for measures to counter this remains low. The Green Deal gives people the opportunity to make this right.
“And today, we will see that it’s not just consumers that will benefit. The Green Deal is also great for business, creating a new market and new jobs.
“I’m delighted to have the opportunity to meet the young people who are developing the skills they need to play a key role in ensuring the Green Deal’s success. The skills they are learning at this Academy will help them to help people and businesses to transform their properties into more efficient and warmer buildings, and to protect them from rising energy bills.”
Green Deal in numbers
- £125 million is available in the Government funded Cashback Scheme
- 8 million households could benefit from solid wall insulation
- 4 million households could benefit from cavity insulation
- 60,000 jobs are expected to be supported in the insulation sector alone by 2015 – up from 26,000 in 2011
- £3.5 million of funding to training in key Green Deal skills
- £270 a year could be saved if a typical three bedroom semi-detached house installed just solid wall insulation
- 38% of the UK’s total greenhouse gas emissions come from leaky buildings
How the Green Deal works
Firstly, a Green Deal Assessor will come to your home, talk to you about your energy use and see if you could benefit from making energy efficiency improvements. Your Assessor will recommend improvements that are appropriate for your property and indicate whether they are expected to pay for themselves through reduced energy bills. Green Deal Providers will then quote for the recommended improvements. You can get as many quotes as you like, and you don’t have to choose all of the recommendations made to you.
Once you’ve chosen a Green Deal Provider, they will write up a Green Deal Plan. The plan is a contract between you and the Provider – it sets out the work that will be done and the repayments, including the fixed interest rate. Once you’ve agreed to a Green Deal Plan, your Provider will arrange for the improvements to be made to your home by a Green Deal Installer. You can then start to enjoy a more energy efficient home. Your Green Deal repayments will be automatically added to the electricity bill for the home.
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