The Green Deal

This page mentions the Green Deal because it was an important incentive, however, funding from the government for this incentive has ended. Some components of this incentive, like the Green Deal Assessment, are ongoing and existing loans will continue.

At the moment, if you would like to apply for the green deal, you still can. There are providers financing this scheme themselves.

To help its citizens with the installation of energy saving measures such as boilers, double glazing and solid wall insulation, the UK government has created multiple incentives. One of these incentives is the “The Green Deal” which contained several components: 'Green Deal Assessment,' 'Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF),' 'Green Deal Finance' and 'The Energy Company Obligation (ECO)' (a program operating alongside The Green Deal). Although there are several green deal energy suppliers, these incentives help channel specific retailers.

The improvement which will be carried out will need to be approved by a Green Deal assessor, which will provide a Green Deal Advice Report, listing the improvements that are possible, and which of these will be cost-effective. The assessment costs between £100-150, but you can get a refund by applying for a voucher, however, only if the installations comply with the scheme terms and conditions.

 The Green Deal assessor will produce a Green Deal advice report made up of two documents:

The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund is >no longer active. But to be complete we will discuss it in this section.

The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund presented several offers which homeowners could choose from, depending on the home improvement that was carried out. They were as follows:

Homeowners needed to meet certain criteria to apply for the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund. These were:

If you as a homeowner were already benefiting from other schemes on the same improvements, then you were not eligible to apply for the GDHIF.

Since July 2015 The Green Deal Finance Company has been fulfilling a different role from its original one.

Private companies known as Green Deal Providers are responsible for providing the financial means to make green energy home improvements. The funds provided by such companies may come from in-house funds or from external financiers. The loan is to be repaid with interest through a charge added on the electricity bill. The amount of money that can be borrowed is limited, calculated by what a typical energy user might save on their energy bills from installing and improvements. Therefore, there exists the possibility that a Green Deal Loan may not cover the full cost of the installation.

The Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) was responsible for training and instructing Green Deal providers, which meant the following:

The UK government no longer funds the Green Deal Finance Company, so their role of financing new loans has changed into managing the current Green Deal plans. 

The Energy Company Obligation is a program that was introduced in the UK in 2013. It places legal obligations on the energy suppliers to deliver energy saving measures to domestic energy users. The program operated alongside The Green Deal, providing additional support in the domestic sector.

Under the Energy Company Obligation, energy suppliers are obliged to improve the energy efficiency of their customer’s homes in three fields: