Green Deal MSE Guide Discussion

Richie-from-the-Boro

- 10,000 assessments x £££ each completed
- 100 assessments converted !
- 100 assessments converted, but how many are started ? or completed ?
- this green deal target based initiative had its legs chopped of by the installing industry before it began
- as for my claim that it mirrors the mis-selling in the PPI / and / or / other delivery models
- I'll happily leave my head above the parapet and we will indeed see who is / was correct .. .. ..

Best of luck !

John_Pierpoint

There could be an opportunity to visit "eco" homes in Brighton and talk with some real pioneers of the Green Deal.

I found myself with a spare hour of two over the weekend and passing through Brighton; unfortunately I discovered a grid lock situation caused by the annual London to Brighton bike ride and had to think better of the idea.

There is a repeat of this opportunity next weekend, though only two of the five Green Deal homes will be opening; viz: 51 Gardener Street & 50 Southampton Street.

Full details of these two drop in venues and others that require booking are here:
www.ecoopenhouses.org

Personally I was disappointed that not one of the homes had a Ground Source Heat Pump.

cdunne

My boiler is old (about 20 years) and now broken. I'd come across the Green Deal on MSE and am intending to get cash-back on a new one. I've just had an assessment today (I forget which company it was with but it was organised by my district council).

The assessors (one experienced and one a trainee) seemed quite through, they then came up with the exact same energy rating (E) that I'd got from my suppliers (SSE) online Energy Efficiency Survey. At the end of it one said that the government hadn't managed to release any Green Deal funding yet, and that their company had come up with a similar scheme (Greener Deal) which they warned me they will try to sell to me when they give me their report.

One post states 10000 assessments conducted but only 100 converted, is there a long delay to get them converted?

I'm getting Higher Rate Disability Living Allowance but because that is not a means tested benefit I don't think I'm entitled to any other methods of funding the boiler but will happily be proven wrong. Perhaps being disabled and without any working heating / hot water can get my conversion boosted in the pile of those waiting (I did skip the queue to get an assessment in the first place).

cdunne

Anyone?

I'm surprised this hasn't been responded to yet.

hazdriver

I guess that the conversion rate is low because hardly anyone is taking up the offer

DrRusty

I have read a large part of this thread following a cold call today. I was indeed skeptical but as the house requires new windows I was interested in challenging my skepticism and not just throwing a possible opportunity to get this work done "for free" :rotfl:

I had the hard sell, from someone who did not fully explain who he worked for, just stating "The Green Deal" (I will be challenging him a little more when he calls back).

I was "as far as I can see" sold a lie, they claim that the work was done "for free" is wrong.

It was also claimed, or at least I understood the salesman to say, that if my energy bills reduced from £100 pcm to £60 pcm then the electrcity company would taken thier cut from the £60 I was paying... i.e. I would pay no more than I was saving... from reading the thread this is simply not true and is misleading and potentially miss-selling

I was being offered a survey for a refundable deposit of £299 :rotfl:(I indicated I didn't have that sort of money available and it was suggested I used a credit card to pay). I really pushed and the refundable bit would only apply if the assessor found that they couldn't help?? so I would be in for £299 straight away as there is little doubt the assessor would walk away without coming up with something.

I was heavily sold the cashback especially as I indicated that my boiler was old.

After reading the forum my initial concerns about this scheme are fully justified.

It is a loan and will have to be paid back.

The indicated payback periods are long generating huge total payments against the relatively small initial loan value.

The pay back periods could extend beyond the expected life of the parts replaced leaving you paying off the loan and covering replacement costs.

I can't see how any solicitor would/could allow a prospective buyer to purchase a house with an existing Green Deal loan against it. Surely the purchaser is in the very worst position as they will be forced to pay increased energy costs without seeing the initial cash back or extras years of payments that might just make it pay. Worst still the purchaser might have to replace items installed under the scheme and then be faced with effectively double paying. This then leaves the vendor trapped or out of pocket paying of the loan early with funds from the sale. The least favorable option would be to take a large hit on the sale price.

There will be little negotiation on price for the work or choice of supplier

Why can't the government make thing simple, step one NO VAT on replacement costs or installation of green energy products.

Provide grants or interest free loans to cover part of the cost of the work.

I am minded to wait for the return call and quiz the salesman again but then life is too short and I need to earn some money to pay for some new windows "if its too good to be true, it probably is"

cdunne

For clarity I'm intending on steering away from the loan part because I share the same thoughts about the loan against the property if you tried to sell it. I'm trying to bag the £250 cash-back.

After reading Martin's article I rang my district council and they arranged for the assessment to be done but it was still by some external company. I'm expecting a hard sell from them when they call with their assessment.

If the progress is actually 10000 assessments conducted but only 100 converted then I'm thinking to just get a new boiler installed and ignore the green deal.

Richie-from-the-Boro

cdunne wrote: »

For clarity I'm intending on steering away from the loan part because I share the same thoughts about the loan against the property if you tried to sell it. I'm trying to bag the £250 cash-back.

After reading Martin's article I rang my district council and they arranged for the assessment to be done but it was still by some external company. I'm expecting a hard sell from them when they call with their assessment.

If the progress is actually 10000 assessments conducted but only 100 converted then I'm thinking to just get a new boiler installed and ignore the green deal.

The only greenerdeal I know of is this gang, providing your free assessment does not actually cost you a penny you have nothing to lose. Its very unlikely claiming DLA status had any affect on an empty queue of people waiting to be assessed [and so it should be] by a squad of 'in-house' individuals breaking their neck to provide it, so its unlikely regardless of what you believe, or what you were told, that you 'skipped' a queue on the basis of being a DLA recipient. Best of luck cdunne.

John_Pierpoint

http://www.greenerdeal4u.co.uk/index.php/energy-solutions

Is this the usual "over sell" based on figures cannot lie [but liars sure can figure]?

"Put this small black panel on your roof and multiply up your electricity by a huge amount." is the message.

Then we have "It still works when covered with snow".

Having installed PC panels and a suitable immersion heater, I can can say that for about 183 days per year, I enjoy so much hot water that a household of two, short of opening a laundry for the neighboursm runs out of creative ideas for its use.

However during cold times of year, we are currently forced to use half price overnight electricity. We don't benefit from "It works when covered in snow".
Well that was the gimmick originally promoted by "Ice Energy" - "It is possible to heat a house with the heat stored in a glacier"

Anything with a heat pump needs to be designed into the existing home, not just connected. You the customer may well better understand the physics of your home, at least GCE maths and the concept of thermodynamics; the salesman probably failed at all these disciplines. Try pretending to be stupid in this area and see how good a teacher has been invited into your home.

As the old saying goes: "If you are not pretty confused you have not begun to understand the situation".

Here are the "professionals" trying to pick up the pieces and make something that works in terms of heat, CO2 and money. [see in particular entry 27jan10@21:34]
http://www.theiet.org/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=205&threadid=34369&STARTPAGE=1&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

andy208833

I live down in Somerset and have a relatively old house in need of green improvements to reduce my bills. I thought this was a godsend as i do not have the spare cash for the improvements.

I used British Gas at £99 for the assessment and it recommended various improvements including solid wall insulation in my two upstairs rooms (i have a dormer bungalow) which currently have nil insulation.

And here is where the saga starts.....there is no-one to do the work! i used the gov website to find providers (only 6 in SW) and none of them will provide what i need.

So i am asking what was the point? I am now £99 down and no further to getting the work done. Anyone have a success story using the green deal?