An initial cash-back incentive of £120m was successful in  boosting  the Green Deal,  but it closed in July this year as the money ran out. This second boost is likely to be as short lived as the first as take up since the first Green Deal Home Improvement Scheme finished has been sluggish!

For all Mr Davy’s rhetoric on breakfast television this morning, most commentators are certain that there will be no longer term pick up of the scheme. John Alker, director of policy and communication at the UK Green Building Council said “As temperatures start to drop and households turn up the heating, this additional funding is timely – but ultimately a temporary solution to encouraging energy efficiency….. We need to move beyond start-stop incentives which damage business confidence”

JB comments The government may well have some success with boosting the Green Deal with the next tranche of supporting cash under the Home Improvement Fund coming up to the election, particularly as it offers home owners a sizable financial opportunity, as recognised by those who very quickly used up the funds in the first round. What the government fails to grasp is that the fundamental premise around the Green Deal simply does not resonate with the population. In addition, with the reasonable numbers of Green Deal Assessments completed to date,  much of the poor take up has been due to the vagaries of the Golden Rule as significant proportion of potential energy efficiency measures are instantly rule out, when they seem a rational and fundamentally sensible approach for individual home owners.