黑洞社区

The number of completed Green Deals has risen to 57 the latest official figures reveal.

Figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change show that as of the end of September 57 plans are now live - meaning the owner of the Green Deal is paying back the money through their energy bills - up from just 12 at the end of August.

It also showed 505 further plans have been signed and set to go live at a later date.

But the figures revealed a fall in the number of cashback vouchers being claimed under the government鈥檚 拢125m incentive scheme to support the Green Deal.

The number of cashback vouchers paid out each month peaked at 3,298 in June but has since fallen steadily to just 471 in September.

However, the figures also revealed that are 2,575 vouchers that have so far been issued but not yet paid out.

The government has already said it is looking to make changes to the incentive scheme to stop the vast majority of cashback vouchers being used to pay for new boilers. The latest figures showed that 96% of vouchers have so far been used to pay for new boilers.

Energy minister Greg Barker said the 鈥渂iggest retrofit of our time鈥� was 鈥渃learly underway鈥�.

He added: 鈥�85,000 homes have already taken advantage of a Green Deal assessment鈥� That is a cracking start to the Green Deal and shows there is genuine and sustained consumer interest in making homes more energy efficient.鈥�

Richard Twinn, policy and public affairs officer at the UK Green 黑洞社区 Council, said: 鈥淲e are continuing to see encouraging growth in the Green Deal market but we must address issues around finance and incentives to really drive numbers forward.

鈥淲ith the price of energy high on the agenda and cold weather approaching, energy efficiency is the key to keeping bills down and homes warm this winter.鈥�

WSP Director David Symons said: 鈥淏eyond the bluster, governments can do relatively little about energy prices, but plenty about energy efficiency. A really successful Green Deal programme would be a perfect, practical help to hard pressed households.

鈥淲e continue to encourage Government to introduce practical changes to Green Deal which will transform the programme from 13,000 assessments a month to upwards of ten times this number.鈥�

The statistics also showed that 215,705 homes have been treated under the Green Deal sister programme the Energy Companies Obligation (ECO).

Speaking in parliament this morning, Barker said he 鈥渁nticipated that 300,000 homes will be helped by ECO this year鈥�.

The scheme has come under pressure recently because it is paid for by a levy on consumer鈥檚 energy bills and the Treasury is reported to be keen to extend the deadline for the programme to ease the pressure on consumers from energy price hikes.

The figures showed that so far 拢235.4m had been spent through the brokerage system under the scheme, although energy companies may be paying for further measures outside of this system as well.

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