Government offers 125m of green deal cashback
Author: Tom Lloyd, Inside Housing |
Residential property owners including social landlords are to be offered 125 million of ‘cashback’ payments as an incentive to take up the government’s green deal scheme.
From 28 January next year households having work done through the flagship energy efficiency initiative will be able to apply for cash payments based on the amount and type of work they are having done.
To qualify they will need to have a green deal assessment carried out, and then get some of the recommended work done through a registered green deal provider.
Under the green deal households will be able to get work done to their homes without paying up front. The cost of the work will be met by a green deal provider, and the money will then be paid back using the fuel bill savings. Repayments with interest cannot exceed the fuel bill savings.
Homeowners and landlords will qualify for the cashback payments as long as they are making the repayments, and the cashback cannot be more than 50 per cent of the cost that will be met by the property owner. Any green deal work that is funded entirely through the 1.3 billion a year energy company obligation will not be eligible for cashback.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change has published the cashback rates for a range of different measures that can be installed through the green deal. These are valid for the first 40 million of the fund. Once this is spent, rates may be lowered for the next round of funding.
Energy secretary Edward Davey said: ‘This cash back offer will help get the green deal off to a flying start. It really is a great offer ? the more work households have done, the more energy they stand to save and the more cash they receive.’
The money comes from a 200 million pot to incentivise use of the green deal, which was announced by chancellor George Osborne in his autumn statement last year. The only other allocation so far is 12 million for cities that are pushing ahead with energy efficiency schemes.