THE GREEN DEAL IS AMEAN DEAL

had measures installed, 18 months after the policy was launched. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was hoping for 10,000 in the first year alone. It has been described as “disastrous”, “an abject failure” and “deeply disappointing” in sessions of the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee in its Green Deal inquiry. Now, the DECC hopes that further cashback offers of up to £6,000 for solid-wall insulation will renew interest. Tim Yeo MP, the committee chairman, says that although the Green Deal is a “terrific idea”, the Government should consider incentives for houses similar to reduced road tax for low-polluting cars. He suggests offering stamp duty rebates to people making energy-efficiency improvements within a year of moving house. “Similarly, people who buy homes rated E or F on the Energy Performance Certificate, and don’t make improvements, could face a surcharge,” he says. The Green Deal has three main flaws: the interest rate, around 7 per cent, is too high; the debt is attached to the house, making resale problematic; and too often work is provided by faceless national firms, rather than trusted local builders. But this doesn’t mean that people aren’t interested. About 22,000 households each month are having Green Deal assessments, and there is anecdotal evidence that home owners are making improvements using their own finances. This is what we did. After the hideous winter of 2012-13, when our Twenties house felt more like a morgue than a DIY: householders are using their own finances to make homes more energyefficient home, we considered a Green Deal package but decided the interest rate was too high. So we put £10,000 on the mortgage, at a rate of 4.99 per cent, fixed for five years. We installed a new boiler, extra solid-wall insulation, an insulated door between our north-facing porch and hall, secondary and double glazing, and insulated underlay and wool carpets on the ground floor. The work was done by a local builder. Last week I received a letter from our energy provider. Not Recycled carpet underlay I was particularly pleased with the ’Envirolay 54’ 100 per cent recycled thick carpet underlay - http://tinyurl. com/kzbxfc6 A simple solution for ground floors with draughty floorboards. only had our gas usage fallen by 99 per cent, but we have been credited with £250 to compensate for direct debit overpayments, and our monthly payments have fallen by £66 – more than the extra we are now paying on our mortgage. The measures we installed have made a huge difference not only to our bills, but also to the way we feel about our house. Not everyone can add £10,000 to their mortgage, but that just makes the Green Deal’s 7 per cent interest rate even more outrageous by hitting hardest those who can’t find other, cheaper forms of finance. When a policy is so demonstrably unfair, it’s time to go back to the drawing board.