Oral Answers to Questions

Nick Smith Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Gregory Barker]

First, let me make it absolutely clear that green deals are not loans—certainly not loans as most people understand them. Everybody taking out a green deal should be better off, net-net, on their energy bill after they have had the interventions. It is not something that anybody could feel unable to afford. For those on particularly low incomes, where more work needs to be done on the home than can be financed on a green deal plan, there is £1.3 billion ECO—energy company obligation—programme, which will unleash a huge wave of investment to bring up to standard the homes of the most vulnerable and poorest.

[Nick Smith (Blaenau Gwent) (Lab)]

3. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

[Alison Seabeck (Plymouth, Moor View) (Lab)]

7. What steps he is taking to help households improve their energy efficiency.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Gregory Barker)]

The green deal, together with the energy company obligation, is the coalition’s transformational programme to help consumers make energy saving improvements to their homes. We expect the first green deal finance plans to be written by the end of January next year. Our ambitious roll-out of smart meters will have reached every home in the country by 2019.

[Nick Smith]

Homes in Blaenau Gwent, some more than 1,200 feet above sea level, need energy saving insulation now. Locally based RIS Insulation says there is a serious gap in Government policy as the green deal will not offer loans until late next year and that many jobs could be lost. How are the Government going to bridge that gap?

[Gregory Barker]

I am very pleased to correct that misinformation. The green deal finance plans will be written from January next year. The ECO is already in place, while the carbon emissions reduction target and the community energy saving programme will continue through to the end of this year, so there is a substantial programme of work that is seamless, running from the end of CERT and CESP right through to the take-up of the more transformational green deal programme.