Green Deal MSE Guide Discussion

John_Pierpoint

When you have decided on the sort of cavity fill you want, check the Agrement certificate for the system the installer proposes to use AND MAKE SURE THE "NEDS" DOING THE JOB DO IT AS SPECIFIED ON THEIR CERTIFICATE..
You only do it once so do it right. make sure the holes are drilled in the right place and the distances, between them are correct.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Board_of_Agr%C3%A9ment

Matching the pebble dashing is difficult, I suggest you collect all the pebbles that fall off onto the path this winter (I am assuming it has not been painted) and poke them into the set cement with a coating of PVA on the pebbles - you would be hard put to see the holes on my pebble dashed bungalow.

Styrene balls go in through smaller holes than fibre "cotton buds" and in my opinion do a better job, BUT styrene and PVC wiring don't mix;. so if the electrician has used your cavities to route the cables, go for fibre.

John_Pierpoint

"If you're on a low income, forget about going green. Just burn whatever you can find on an open fire." Quote of the day from #youandyours from a woman with a retro fitted subsidised air source heat pump, designed and installed by Scottish Gas.

We're in the Orkneys to find out whether air source heat pumps really can save money on your electricity bills

It also seems that ECO - green deal installations are on hold pending the outcome of the Autumn Statement.http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03j9h7f

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Goodall

These people were complaining that £10 million of ECO funding is now on hold for a scheme, all set to go for tenants and neighbouring local communities in January.
14 weeks work for 25 tradesmen now unlikely to go ahead on schedule.

http://www.gentoogroup.com/for-business/the-green-deal/an-integrated-approach-to-the-green-deal-and-energy-company-obligation/

easternbhoy

I've been looking into getting various improvements through the Green Deal for about a month now (double glazing, external wall insulation and loft insulation).

Thus far, I've had one company come out to do a free assessment who outlined that the above is not covered by the Green Deal and had a lack of replies from others. I'm still awaiting a reply from the Scottish Government 'advisory' type website from about 2 weeks ago.

One thing; I have an EPC as I recently moved house. Does anyone know if this is sufficient for Green Deal assemment purposes, or do I need to pay for a further assessment?

If anyone has any feedback on any providers in the Glasgow area then please advise!

Ecodave

I would expect any Green Deal Advisor to want to conduct a new EPC, as, if they use the one you already have and it turns out to be incorrect in some way, they will be responsible for the error, not the original assessor.

John_Pierpoint

The EPC is a European requirement, the government is supposed to get the whole country onto the database.

Nenen

I'd be grateful for some advice and/or to know if anyone has actually managed to get any work done under the Greendeal yet.

We paid £100 to have an assessment done by British Gas in January 2013. The only things they recommended were ones they install themselves, i.e. they recommended a new boiler and radiator valves, but made no mention of lost insulation, solar panels or even double glazing, despite wind whistling through our current frames and us specifically asking about this both when booking the assessment and when the assessor was here.

British Gas then wrote to us a few weeks later saying they needed to come and redo the assessment as, due to some computer problem, they hadn't managed to log our application within the time limit so would do it again, free this time. Given the limited recommendations of the first assessment, I'd lost faith in their assessors so I asked for a refund instead, which they eventually gave me. I then booked another assessment with an independent Greendeal assessor and provider (someone I was led to believe at first would handle everything including contractors, installation and finance). This assessment was done on 10th April, at a cost of £99 (which would be discounted from any work done).

The second assessment included a whole host of improvements necessary, including a new boiler, loft insulation, solar panels, replacement doors and windows.

Since then we have had several emails and a couple of 'phone calls offering all sorts of excuses for hold-ups and have not received a copy of the full report. The owner of the company that did the assessment says he submitted the information to Greendeal but does not know the application number and, according to him, he is finding it difficult to access any information from the government dept running Greendeal in order to get us a copy. There appears to be a mix-up with the cancelled report done by British Gas. He has been in touch with a Greedeal finance provider, but apparently they cannot give us any sort of quote (or details of the cashback we were promised) until our application number is sorted out. This is making it impossible to sort out what work we can afford to have done, which means it looks likely we are going to have to ensure another cold, miserable and expensive winter.

We moved to this bungalow last December. It was built in the 1970s and still 'boasts' the original boiler, windows etc. We believe there is cavity wall insulation as the tell-tale holes are in the brickwork.

We do have enough put by to replace our boiler, put valves on radiators and insulate our loft and we could take out a loan for the windows if we have to. I know windows take ages to pay for themselves energy wise, but they need replacing desperately as not only are they rotten and drafty, they are also insecure and, due to the design, including 3 sets of patio doors, it would be very expensive to rectify this. We have been quoted almost £1000 just to make them secure so I'd rather put the money towards new windows and doors. However, it worries me that it is taking so long and we are obviously vulnerable in the meantime.

Would we be better off forgetting about Greendeal and just going ahead on our own? Are there any other schemes that could help with boiler, windows/doors solar panels, loft insulation etc?

If it helps, we are in our 50s, getting paid enough to just about manage to pay our bills and receive no benefits.

Any advice gratefully received.

John_Pierpoint

Where do you live, assuming that the ECO scheme survives in some way after the autumn statement, you just might qualify by being in a "deprived" local authority area.

It would seem that some power companies, charged with investing a fortune in energy saving measures, have been allowing "deprived" to be interpreted somewhat liberally.
Their problem is demonstrated by my son's home this time last year. His large 1930 semi was a disaster in that it had open top cavities and under floor ventilation via unsheathed air-bricks; in other words the cavity was acting as a chimney to cool the wall.
My son tried to sell the concept of packing the cavity with grey styrene balls, but no way was the bloke next door going to agree to have his half of the building done for free at the same time.
Such an idea was obviously the work of the devil.

CinLeighton

I recently had a Green Deal Assessment carried out by British Gas.

Following the assessment I was provided with the Occupancy Assessment and EPC as a PDF file by BG. I have now spoken to several Green Deal Providers because I want them to draw up a Green Deal Plan so I can finance the work on our house. The Green Deal Providers I have spoken to say that they cannot help me because I do not have the two assessments as XML files. They need the XML file in order to calculate any ECO benefit I may get for solid wall insulation.

I spoke to BG and they said that they only provide PDF files due to data protection and that any provider could download the XML file from the DECC website. When I have told the Providers this they have said that they can take off bits of the assessment but they cannot create an EPR for the Solid Wall Insulation.

I am totally baffled by the above the only thing I know is that I had carried a Green Deal Assessment with BG and at the next stage of the Green Deal process, finding a Provider, I am stuck because the files they have supplied me with cannot be used by other providers. It seems only British Gas has the files I or any other provider needs in order to complete the next stage.

I understand that other assessors provide their customers with XML files.

Has anyone else come across this or can they offer suggestions?

Nenen

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Where do you live, assuming that the ECO scheme survives in some way after the autumn statement, you just might qualify by being in a "deprived" local authority area.

It would seem that some power companies, charged with investing a fortune in energy saving measures, have been allowing "deprived" to be interpreted somewhat liberally.

Thanks for your reply. I live in Cambridgeshire. How would I find out whether or not I qualify as being in a 'deprived area'?

Has anyone actually had any work done under the Greendeal yet?

John_Pierpoint

It is explained further back in this thread.

It is complicated, nothing simple like "what is my post code". I checked my council area and I am rural but not deprived.

Cambridgeshire is relatively affluent, so unless you live in a rural area with solid walled houses out in the fens, you are probably not "deprived", HOWEVER it seems likely that an unholy alliance between spiv installation firms and the energy companies desperate to meet their spending targets (and increase our bills) means these installations are not being properly audited.(in my opinion).
So as usual, it is the sharp on the ball folk who are benefiting while the needy such as pensioners living in privately rented property are not "low hanging fruit" and get ignored.

You and Yours at noon today BBC Radio 4 will further investigate the drying up of ECO funding.