A flagship energy efficiency programme has attracted interest from just 245 UK households in the first five months of the scheme.
Only four homes have signed up to a “green deal” plan, which covers the upfront costs of measures such as insulation and new efficient boilers with the money paid back through savings on bills, while a further 241 households have indicated their interest in the scheme but have yet to sign.
So far, no households have had energy efficiency measures installed under the green deal and are being charged on their bills.
Climate Change and Energy Minister Greg Barker admitted numbers were low because of the length of time required to get software systems in place for green deal plans to be signed.
“It will take time as this brand new market finds its legs, but I now expect the number of plans signed to start steadily rising,” he said.
He added that he expected up to 50 authorised finance providers to be up and running by the end of the year.
Some 38,259 assessments to inform householders what energy efficiency measures could be installed in their home – the first stage of the programme – have been carried out since the green deal began in January.
The Government has paid out £263,452 in cashback vouchers for energy saving technology, as part of efforts to boost uptake of the scheme, and around £1.5 million in total has been committed in cashback for householders who are installing measures.
Under the “energy company obligation” which requires firms to install energy efficiency measures to low income and vulnerable families, and those living in “hard-to-treat” homes, almost 82,000 measures have been installed.
“Today we’ve seen that 81,798 installations have taken place with the support of the new Energy Company Obligation, helping those most in need or with particularly hard to treat properties,” insisted Barker.
“But this is just the start. 38,259 Green Deal assessments is also a clear sign that many consumers genuinely want to make their homes more efficient; but we are keen to do more.
“78 per cent of people who have received a Green Deal Advice Report, following a Green Deal assessment, said they had, were getting or would get energy saving measures installed. This too is a great sign – many people are increasingly looking to make their homes more energy efficient and keep bills down.”
There were 45,406 installations of loft insulation, although much was topping up existing insulation, 26,836 cavity wall insulations and 1,565 installations of solid wall insulation. Almost 8,000 new boilers were installed.
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