Green Deal FAQs Brochure

Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com ©2012 The Green Deal – FAQ’s This publication is intended for guidance purposes only and further legal support should be sought where necessary. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure this document is factually correct at the time of publication, its content is not intended for use without substantiating investigations by the users. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any way without prior permission from the publisher. Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com Page 2 of 6 What is it? A scheme introduced by the Energy Act 2011, due to be implemented in Autumn 2012, whereby householders, private landlords and businesses would be given finance upfront to make energy efficiency improvements, which would then be paid for by energy bill savings. It means that rather than having to dip into your savings or take out loans to install insulation, solid wall insulation, double glazing or maybe a new boiler, you can take out long-term finance that will be attached to your home. These debts would then be passed onto new occupiers when they take over the payment of the bills. It is proposed that the costs of the loan repayments would be less than the savings on the bills from the upgrades; however this will be a guideline and not legally enforceable guarantee. If MCS and Gas Safe have already been complied with, this will count as an equivalent to the Green Deal. How does it work? There are three main ‘players’: 1) Green deal provider 2) Green deal advisor (must be accredited); The Green Deal assessment is the gateway to the Green Deal, no one will be able to enter into a Green Deal plan without a qualifying assessment of the building and recommendations for measures that could improve the energy efficiency of their home. It is expected that many SMEs will take on the role of advisors. 3) Green deal installer (must be accredited) These may co-ordinate in different ways (see figure 1.1 below) Central to all this is the consumer as they need to engage, decide and be able to invest in making their homes energy efficient Figure 1.1 Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com Page 3 of 6 Figure 1.2 – The regulatory framework 2 - I am a homeowner. What does this mean for me? A homeowner will have to request an assessment from an accredited advisor. A provider will then recommend a package of measures and costs which meet the ‘Golden Rule’. This key principle set out by the DECC centres around the fact that the Green Deal charge attached to the electricity bill should not exceed the expected savings, and the length of the payment period should not exceed the expected lifetime of the measures. The government is keen to stress that the Green Deal is not a 'loan' in the traditional sense. In theory you never pay back more money than you are saving on your energy bills each month The Golden Rule states that if your new insulation saves you £15 per month on your heating bills, for example, you'll pay less than £15 in repayments. In addition, a new ‘Energy Company Obligation’ (ECO) will integrate with the Green Deal, allowing supplier subsidy and Green Deal Finance to come together into one seamless offer to the consumer; the government can place a legal obligation on energy companies requiring them to promote measures which improve domestic energy efficiency, reduce emissions and reduce the cost to households of heating their homes. It is notable that implementation of the Green Deal is clear for domestic properties, due to commence in Autumn 2012, but the strategy for commercial properties remains to be clarified in early 2013. Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com Page 4 of 6 How do I become a Green Deal installer? Either: - As a salaried employee of the Green Deal provider; - Sub-contracted on a per-job basis by a Green Deal provider; - As an independent Green Deal installer commissioned directly by a consumer and markets their service to various Green Deal providers. How can I get work as an installer? A consumer can choose to go directly to a Green Deal provider or they can go to an independent GD Installer to carry out the work, who must then be or work with a GD Provider. If a consumer chooses to go directly to a Green Deal provider, then the provider will co-ordinate the installation work. They will either contract in-house installers to carry out the work, or sub-contract to independent installers. Example of work flow: 1) Green Deal Advisory report 2) Quotation for Energy Efficiency Measure 3) Provide a Schedule of Works & Quote 4) Change in Scope of Work? – Triggers re-quote 5) Installation of Energy Efficiency Measure 6) Installer & Consumer sign off 7) Re-issue and lodgement of revised Energy Performance Certificate 8) Receive payment for work. The standard which installers are certified against is the Publicly Available Standard (PAS) 2030, which provides a robust uniformly applicable specification for installers. So what does it do? It provides a specification for the installation of energy efficiency measures (EEM) in existing buildings. It does this by focusing particularly on the necessary installation processes for the measures, the management of the process that guides their installation and the quality of the service provided to the customer before, during and after the installation. Any Green Deal Installer will need to be certified against PAS 2030 by a UKAS accredited Certification Body before they become an ‘Authorised Green Deal Installer’ and use the Green Deal Quality Mark. There is a lot to think about when complying with PAS – mandatory requirements include for example installation process control, procedures for internal audit, handling and storage, intermediate inspection, and customer interaction (among others) Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com Page 5 of 6 Are there any criticisms of the Green Deal? ? The government says most lofts and cavity walls are already insulated under previous schemes so it wants to offer grants on much more expensive solid wall insulation. Critics say it makes no sense to insulate solid walls at approximately £7,500 a home when you can insulate lofts of the "fuel poor" for £500 a home. ? There are no precise targets, just a general aim to reduce carbon and to have as many as possible participating in the Green Deal from 26 million homes and 4.5 million businesses. ? The workforce of the future must move away from "base skills" and become more "outcome" focused. ? Critics, including the leading consumer advice brand ‘Which?’ have said the Energy Company Obligation needs to be fairer - At the moment a significant proportion of this money will be spent on solid wall insulation, including those who may be able to afford it themselves. This means that everyone is contributing towards measures that will fund costly improvements for the homes of a few to support the Green Deal, which is supposed to be a market-based product free from government subsidy. How do I become a Green Deal advisor? A qualified, authorised Green Deal Advisor is any individual who: ? meets the requirements to be set out in both the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for Green Deal Advisors; ? is employed by an organisation that has been certified by the appointed accreditation body against the relevant Green Deal Scheme Standard, has signed the Code of Practice, and appears on the Green Deal register. The Green Deal assessor may be employed in one of several ways. They could be: 1. a salaried employee or sub-contractor of one or more Green Deal providers/installers; 2. an independent, self-employed Green Deal assessor commissioned directly by a consumer; 3. a public/third sector official or representative of a civil society organisation funded (or self-funded) to deliver Green Deal assessments. Crowberry Consulting Ltd., Chorley Business & Technology Centre, East Terrace, Euxton Lane, Chorley, Lancashire PR7 6TE Company Number: 6381789 Tel: 01257 231171 Email: info@crowberryconsulting.com Web: www.crowberryconsulting.com Page 6 of 6 Compiled by Kirsty Ramsay LLB, Environmental Legal Consultant June 2012 How can Crowberry Consulting help you? o Able to help installers with the accreditation process by auditing installer standards. Currently an approved auditor to PAS 2030 standards, working in partnership with the Centre for Assessment Ltd. o Provide a link to Crowberry Energy – we work with approved installers for energy efficient measures such as loft insulators, LED lighting amongst many others. o Provide training on calculating your carbon footprint and measures to be greener at work and signpost to technologies that are low carbon.