The UK’s Green Deal program set to help millions of Britons deal with rising energy prices

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Worry sweeps across Britain as five of the “Big 6” energy companies declare their gas and electricity prices will have significantly risen by the end of 2012. With Christmas approaching and temperatures dropping in the UK, this news is hitting families and property-owners hard. The UK government, however, is set to launch its scheme, The Green Deal, in January of 2013, which should go some way in alleviating these energy worries.

Fuel poverty in the UK is rising, meaning that a large amount of households are spending over 10% of their annual income on energy bills. This can only mean one thing; that their homes are draughty, energy inefficient, and extremely hard to heat. The Green Deal will focus on improving these property-failings and helping property owners finance them through the ‘Green Deal Loan’. Accredited Green Deal Providers will offer low cost finance packages to consumers upgrading their homes under the Green Deal. What is important to remember here, is that the loan will be attached to the property, not the person. Further, the Green Deal improvements will be paid through monthly instalments that are added on to a property owner’s energy bills. The Green Deal ‘golden rule’ is that these charges will never be allowed to be more than the money saved on energy bills; so the property owner really experiences no financial strain.

Returning to the extremely worrying increase in energy costs, it can now be seen why this scheme should be welcomed with open arms come early 2013. These rises are not small and will affect families significantly. Compared to 2011, it can be seen that the average annual bills for British Gas customers have risen by 22%. Further, a shocking 3 million EDF Energy customers will experience an average rise of 11% on their bills from 7th December 2012.

The kinds of green home-improvements that will be undertaken as part of this scheme will be things such as Green Deal Double Glazing, Green Deal Insulation and Green Deal Boilers. Double glazing could save a bill-payer around £165 a year on your energy bills.

The Green Deal is a major British scheme that incorporates both the environmental and economic concerns of the country. It is not going to be a speedy process but will hopefully establish itself over the next few decades, helping the government reach its carbon emissions reduction target of 80% by 2050. Perhaps if it proves itself to be a success other countries will get on board with Green Deal thinking!

Photo from Shutterstock

1 thought on “The UK’s Green Deal program set to help millions of Britons deal with rising energy prices”

  1. Thanks for this article. It sounds good, The Green Deal, but is it just a PR exercise? The Coalition have been challenged for their unprecendented number of Uturns on policy. One of those was the claim to be the greenest government on record. A bit of a joke when you look at their green credentials. I do question the principles of a government who refuse to invest properly into clean technology and renewable energy, and who have just announced dozens of hydraulic Fracking sites all over the UK…it’s reckless and shortsighted, and putting vast amounts of money into finite resources when we should be developing renewables. The Green Deal sounds good, but is it putting all the onus on home owners to reduce their energy use and carry the responsibility, when big change needs to come from government policy and investment? Economy in the UK is all based on the value of oil companies – on their estimated value – but we can’t touch the stuff in the ground they may or may not have otherwise we’re heading for disaster.

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