What do you think of the Green Deal?

Elaine_F

I'm having a new boiler installed by British Gas as they're offering (via Green Deal) 5 years cover - the initial one year warranty then a further 4 years HomeCare. British Gas arranged for the Green Deal assessment at a charge of £129.00 and a chap came out last week and took many many many measurements and notes. I now have an energy rating certificate, which stays with the house should I move, but I've now got to phone the Green Deal Cashback scheme with my reference number and bank details.
I'm not prepared to take out any of their finance, I just want the cashback! I assume that's why they want my bank details but I'll be ringing them in the morning to find out more.
It would be simplest if Green Deal just knocked the price off the British Gas bill.

springdreams

I too paid to have an assessment done (£150) in May last year, and am also having difficulty in finding a provider who has Green Deal funding to carry out the recommended work :mad:

This has been a serious waste of my time and money :mad:

lkane0

Our boiler was fitted by British Gas 3 weeks ago: Boiler, radiators and thermostats.

We started the process in March 2013, so it has taken 10 months all in.

As others have said, it was extremely difficult to get started. British Gas did the initial assessment (£125) and it took weeks (months?) to get the report.

Then we tried calling all the local companies (the Energy Saving Trust had a list I think) to get quotes for the work we wanted to do. They all said funding wasn't available yet. After a few months, British Gas seemed to be the first to get funding, but ONLY for boilers.

Lots of sales calls from local companies trying to sell solar panels with Green Deal, but nothing that sounded legit.

We wanted to get external wall insulation and double glazing as well, but no-one could do these easily.

It then took many many more British Gas appointments to:
- check the energy report
- discuss requirements
- have an engineer come to do the final spec
- have someone else enter the spec on the system (they did this wrong - all the wrong sized radiators were delivered)
- appointment to apply for finance
- many calls chasing the finance (again, took weeks)

The wrong radiators were delivered, but the guys doing the installation were FANTASTIC. They sorted out getting the right radiators, and just did everything without needing to bother us. Absolutely brilliant - all done in 4 days (we were oil, so converting us to gas was no minor job!).
Because of British Gas's promise of the price you are quoted is the price you pay, we actually had a lot more work done than included in the quote.

Weirdly, the Green Deal says thermostatic radiator valves are included. However, British Gas wouldn't cover these under the Green Deal - we still don't know why.

All in, we were quoted c.£8,000 for the work.
We paid £2,600 at installation (the radiators and valves), and the rest (the boiler) is on Green Deal (c.£50 a month for 10 years).

We feel we got a good deal. But it was A LOT of hard work to get there.

Listerrachel

I paid for my house and my mothers house to be assessed by green deal rewards, £300, and all they did was constantly cancel the appointments that we had made, after the 5th cancellation I asked for my money back so they sent me a cheque made out in the wrong name and didn't even sign it, now they will not answer my calls or emails!

Luckykitten

Green Deal is a complete misnomer. This has nothing to do with the environment and everything to do with drumming up business for our ailing economy. Same old story from the politicians I'm afraid.

We paid for an assessment which resulted in recommendations that were either obvious or unworkable. We live in a Victorian house in a conservation area, meaning many of the modern methods to save energy are difficult to retrofit the property.

We would get funding for wall insulation. Unfortunately, the building is made of a single-skin of bricks so there is no potential for wall insulation unless an extra skin of bricks is added to the property which would either be expensive or reduce the internal floorspace of the property. Probably both.

We would like double-glazed windows but it seems there would only be part-funding for this. We are likely to get more funding for the windows if we spend money on a new boiler too. As the windows would have to be timber frames to comply with planning regulations, we are looking at a huge outlay for minimal returns - not that anyone is prepared to divulge a figure for how much of a contribution we would get.

Perhaps the money spent on Green Deal might just be better spent on grants for people to offset some of the cost for introducing energy-efficiency/renewable energy to their properties. Such measures should be prioritised over new boilers which, after all, are still going to burn more hydrocarbons (the very thing we are trying to avoid).

Green Deal? Green Wash more like.

Isinglow

This is another poorly thought out government initiative offering poor value for money, unless you can get a grant. It appears to be rolled out with dodgy software and poorly trained assessors - remember HIPS?

It is possible to calculate theoretical heat saving but as with driving, occupant behaviour could wildly affect the real world outcome and the predicted savings may not be forthcoming. Of course any insulation measures will produce some savings but the ROI (return on investment) calculation may just not stack up.

Finally, Green Deal finance starting at 7%, or is it 8% as I heard, is such a rip-off when you can get a bank loan as low as 4.5%. No wonder people don't take up that offer!

Eileen12

An older relative had a phone call from Green deal in May last year, and paid £149 for an assessment. Since then we have phoned on numerous occasions to complain about the amount of time it is taking to install her boiler. In November, a fitter from another company arrived and said they had been contracted to fit the boilers and he should be back in 2 weeks time. Of course this didn't happen and there were more delaying tactics. I phoned to ask for her money back and was told that we could only ask for that within 7 days of her applying (when we didn't know how long it would take). She has now been told that funding has been withdrawn and they are waiting for the government to decide what to do. Does anyone know if it is possible to complain to Trading Standards about this so that she can recover her money? She is worried because she was due to have a service on her boiler early this year, but cancelled it when she thought that her new boiler would be fitted soon.

Trix3y

Having read all the literature about the Green Deal I applied to several companies to be assessed for double glazing,as I still lived in a house with single glazing which was cold and damp. I was informed that the deal did not cover double glazing as it was too expensive and the money was only available for cheaper insulation ie loft etc. I eventually took out a loan to get my house partially double glazed. Being retired I do not have a high income only a small pension.The cut off for free insulation seems ridiculous. It appears that some working people will qualify,but only retired people on pension credit receive free help.Having saved for a small private pension to supplement my state pension,I felt I was penalised. I have an income under ten thousand pounds a year to live on and cannot understand the boffins who calculate who should receive assistance and what their knowledge of surviving on a limited budget is. In my opinion Green Deal complete con and rubbish deal.The Government cannot seriously believe this is credible.

captainhindsight_2

I think the idea of paying for home improvements through the savings they make is a very good idea.

The main barrier as I see it is the high interest rate and for companies wanting to offer finance through the Green Deal Finance Company they must go through a £10,000 on boarding process which is a big barrier for companies who want to offer the funding but can't justify spending that kind of money.

The process is a fairy simple one:

1. Get an Assessment
2. Get a repayment plan
3. get the work done/installed

But for some reason in practice this has proved very slow and difficult.

mrs_eagle_2

I had an assessment by NWS, after three no show appointments! The assessor told me that the funding hadn't been released yet, when in fact they didn't have access to the funding, and that they were offering their own scheme. I had a phone call a week later and all they are trying to do is sell me a new boiler on a finance package, which is not what I was looking for. I've found the whole process so frustrating as you can't get anyone in my area whole will use the assessment I already have, that have access to funding. The lists on the department of climate change website are useless as are the ones on the greendeal finance page. The whole scheme feels like an enigma and has been set-up in a way that does not work.

slaterio wrote: »

Hi

I had a green deal assessment completed by NWS as on MSE but have now been advised by them that the funding has now been stopped. I have contacted several companies that have advised the same thing?