黑洞社区

The government finally admitted this week the implementation of its flagship Green Deal scheme has been delayed until 2013, with retrofit work now not expected to come to market until February.

The Green Deal was due to start this October, with the industry hoping it would lead to a spike in retrofit work in the final quarter of 2012.

However, energy secretary Ed Davey this week confirmed that, although the legal framework for the Green Deal will be in place from 1 October, households will not be able to get work until after 28 January when the finance mechanism to enable them to pay for the Green Deal through their energy bills is in place.

In March, 黑洞社区 revealed that the six major energy firms had told ministers they would for the Green Deal until 鈥渇irst quarter 2013鈥�. Back then the government refused to confirm this delay.

But in a public Q&A session this week, Davey said: 鈥淓ssentially, most aspects of the Green Deal will start on 1 October - but the finance plans can only be signed from 28 January next year 鈥� Under the Green Deal legislation, you have to enter the plan before the work is done.鈥�

He added that the government would not 鈥渞amp up鈥� promotion of the Green Deal until January.

A Department of Energy and Climate Change spokesperson confirmed that although households could get their homes assessed for energy efficiency improvements from next month, the work could not be carried out until after 28 January.

The news comes amid concerns the Green Deal鈥檚 鈥渟oft launch鈥� and delays to its full implementation could undermine the industry, with insulation industry leaders

Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, who was a signatory to the industry letter, said he did not expect the Green Deal to be fully implemented until September 2013: 鈥淓veryone anxious to see the Green Deal succeed will be alarmed that the original concept of a big launch in October 2012 has now gone.

鈥淚t鈥檚 little wonder that the CEOs of insulation firms are warning of 44% job losses next year - a very different reality compared with that rosy picture contained in the original government projections of quadrupling insulation employment by 2015.鈥�

Last week the industry united, through the Construction4Growth campaign, to call for the government to in a bid to drive economic growth, the dire impact on the Green Deal of Number 10鈥檚 move to block the so-called 鈥榗onservatory tax鈥�.

Keith Marshall, chief executive of construction skills body SummitSkills, which is backing the campaign, said the delay to the Green Deal confirmed the industry鈥檚 鈥渨orst fears鈥�.

He said the government had caused a 鈥済reat deal of uncertainty鈥� in recent months and the industry was unclear on its commitment to its flagship scheme. 鈥淭here are real question marks over it now,鈥� he said.

A DECC spokesperson said the government would 鈥渋ntroduce the Green Deal through a responsible and controlled approach鈥�.