Only 33 Green Deal plans agreed in February

The total number of Green Deal plans that have been agreed, signed or installed increased by only 33 properties in February.

This represented the slowest increase in the number of Green Deal plans since the first 100 “new” plans were agreed in May last year.

The latest government figures showed that a total of 1,754 Green Deal plans were either “new”, “pending” or “live” at the end of last month, up from 1,721 at the end of January.

By the end of February, there were 445 plans were live (all measures installed), 426 were pending (plan signed), and 883 were new (quote accepted).

There were 17,998 Green Deal assessments in February, bringing the total assessments for the government’s flagship energy efficiency programme up to 163,096.

Around £2.8 million has been claimed back via Green Deal cashback vouchers by the end of February, with 11,593 being issued and 9,808 being paid, following the installation of 10,523 measures.

The Department of Energy and Climate change (Decc) said the “large majority” were for boiler replacements.

The UK Green Building Council (UK GBC) has urged the government to “throw a lifeline to Green Deal” and provide various incentives, such as variable stamp duty, to increase uptake of the scheme.

John Alker, director of policy and communications at UK GBC, said: “The scheme was always going to be something of a slow burner initially, but the number of new plans is reducing to a trickle.

“Government has already had its wake-up call, it is now crunch time.

“It needs to step in to reduce the cost of the finance plans, strengthen and make permanent tax incentives, and make energy efficiency a pre-requisite for anyone getting an extension this summer.”

The government figures also revealed that 603,000 energy efficiency measures had been installed under the energy company obligation (Eco) by the end of January, with 73,002 being installed that month.

This represented a 10 per cent increase on the number of measures installed during December (66,480) “reflecting the Christmas break”.

A third of the Eco measures installed were cavity wall insulation measures, 32 per cent were boiler replacements, 23 per cent were loft insulation measures, and 5 per cent was made up by solid wall insulation installations.

A Decc spokesperson said: “The latest figures show 517,000 households have now installed measures through Green Deal and Eco – that means more than half a million homes are warmer and more energy efficient.

“The Green Deal is about advice and support for people to make their homes more energy efficient. For some, Green Deal finance will be the best option for paying for energy efficiency measures, while others will want to use different ways to pay.

“The important thing is that households get simple and straightforward advice so they can take control of their energy bills by making their homes warmer and more energy efficient.”