Housing Professional Survey Reveals Green Deal Discontent
Nearly two-thirds of housing professionals have no plans yet to let their tenants use the Green Deal to make their homes more energy efficient, according to a survey by SPSenvirowall.
The results come at a crucial time as the government has launched the Green Deal which lets participants pay for energy-saving improvements over time on their electricity bill. Repayments will be no more than the amount a typical household should save in energy costs.
Only 36.6 per cent of respondents said their organisation planned to let tenants use the scheme, compared to 21.4 per cent who had no plan and 42 per cent who were undecided.
The questionnaire attracted responses by employees mainly from local authorities, housing associations and arm's-length management groups. They ranged from chief executives and directors to departments heads and officers.
For those respondents not planning on using the Green Deal, well over a third (35.8 per cent) said it was because they were unclear on the pros and cons. 43.4 per cent said although they had no plans, they hadn't yet made a final decision.
There was more enthusiasm for accessing money through the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) as 57.3 per cent of respondents said they had secured funds from at least one of them.
However, only 34.1 per cent said the process of applying had been "good", with 20.5 per cent describing it as "bad" and 45.5 per cent "indifferent".
Plans to access money through the Energy Company Obligation were confirmed by 36.8 per cent of respondents, with only 12.6 per cent confirming they had no plans to do so. Undecideds made up 50.6 per cent.
Housing association workers made up 43.4 per cent of the survey's respondents, followed by local authorities (17.1 per cent) and arm's-length management organisations (9.2 per cent). "Others" amounted to 30.3 per cent. The largest number of respondents was from the London area (23.4 per cent).
Mitch Gee, managing director at SPSenvirowall, said: "The big proportion of people who are undecided about the Green Deal reflects the confusion that currently surrounds the scheme, which the government and industry needs to address urgently.
"However, as only a fifth say they definitely have no plans to let tenants use the Green Deal, it gives a window of opportunity to show those undecided customers and organisations the benefits they could gain. It's a similar story with the Energy Company Obligation.
"We need to highlight the findings that showed 84.4 per cent of respondents rated the improved as "˜good' in homes treated with energy efficiency measures. This shows that education is needed for those yet to make a decision."