黑洞社区

There have been over 1,800 Green Deal assessments so far in the first months of the scheme, according to official statistics published today.

According to figures published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) since the Green Deal launched in January that have been 1,803 Green Deal assessments.

The figures show that 1,729 Green Deal assessments were conducted in February, the first full month of the scheme being in operation, with the remainder carried out in January.

Customers wishing to get a Green Deal must first go through the assessment, which can cost around 拢100, before getting work done to their property. But not all assessments will result in customers taking up the Green Deal and having work done to their properties.

No statistics are yet available for how many properties have actually received Green Deals.

The figures from DECC also show that 拢26.9m of contracts for work under the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the Green Deal鈥檚 sister scheme, have been let in the first two months of 2013.

Energy secretary Ed Davey said the figures were a 鈥渃lear signs of a promising new market鈥� and 鈥渟howed genuine interest from consumer鈥�. 鈥淭his underlines that the Green Deal is very much up and running,鈥� he said.

Russell Smith, managing director of retrofit consultant Parity Projects, said it was 鈥渟low but encouraging鈥� start to the scheme. 鈥淚t was always going to be a slow start. If the government had launched it in October last year it would have been slow,鈥� he said.

John Alker, director of policy at the UK Green 黑洞社区 Council, said it was great to see the 鈥渕omentum building鈥� behind the Green Deal and ECO.

鈥淲hile much of this activity will have been driven by DECC-funded local authority projects, it still demonstrates that the public are taking note of the scheme and getting involved.

鈥淗owever, the initial rush provided by these early projects, and the subsequent take-up driven by the cash-back scheme is likely to prove unsustainable in the long-term if government fails to put in place lasting, structural incentives. We would hope to see proposals in this respect included in next week鈥檚 budget.鈥�

Matthew Rhodes, director at sustainability consultant Encraft, said the figures were 鈥渄istorted鈥� by government schemes - such as its Pioneer Places programme - to kick-start Green Deal roll out in some areas.

鈥淭hese figures have effectively been paid for directly by central government so are not yet indicative of the true market reaction,鈥� he said.

Andrew Warren, director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, said he found it difficult to be 鈥渆nthused鈥� by only one completed month of figures.

鈥淚f the figure stayed as low as that for years it would be discouraging but there鈥檚 no reason why it would,鈥� he said.

Warren added that it was more important to get the 鈥渋nfrastructure鈥� of the scheme in place at this point and DECC figures showing the number of Green Deal providers had reached 40 in February was a good sign.

Sustainability expert Neil Cutland said it was an 鈥渆ncouraging picture鈥�.

He added: 鈥淚t shows that real activity is going on, and hopefully that the fears of major job losses thanks to a hiatus are unfounded. I鈥檓 particularly excited to see that ECO brokerage is up and running, and that significant volumes are being traded already.鈥�