As the heating industry responds to the government’s Green Deal consultation, Simon Osborne, spokesperson for Baxi, shares his thoughts on what we might realistically expect under the current proposals.

Schemes like Green Deal should take a ‘fabric first’ approach and therefore insulation is most likely to be the primary measure that is funded. Our view is that Green Deal will tackle the more basic energy efficiency measures – such as controls and insulation, while Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) (and domestic RHI) will do more to support renewables in the long term. As a business we need to be realistic about which routes are going to benefit our customers the most – and actively provide support in those areas.

The inclusion of replacement boilers under Green Deal is promising and may stimulate the market, however the detail of how quickly a Green Deal Plan can be put in to place - when a customer is faced with a boiler breakdown in freezing conditions, could potentially undermine this measure. We would like to see clarity on whether a Green Deal Plan can be retrospective, allowing homeowners to restore heating to their property first and foremost and then finalise the financing. As a further step, the addition of cylinder replacements as an approved measure would provide a more holistic treatment of the heating system, because the insulation values on new cylinders are much higher and reduce energy costs for hot water.

As far as accreditation under Green Deal, for both installers and products, there is a significant overlap with existing MCS schemes. In the interests of keeping things simple it would seem that establishing parity would avoid unnecessary duplication. The idea of an extra financial burden for individual installers to be able to participate in the Green Deal is unacceptable. In addition, we feel that there is an argument for installers to also become Green Deal Assessors, thereby reducing the number of people that the end user has to interact with and providing a more streamlined, end-to-end service which will promote confidence and uptake. MCS accredited installers are already tasked with completing assessments to establish the impact of whichever technology they are planning to install, so it is logical that they could fulfil the same function for the Green Deal. Who pays for the assessment and how assessors bill their work must be standardised and transparent, with labels such as ‘impartial’ being accurately defined.

In the finalised proposal, the government must provide a cohesive strategy for integrating Green Deal with domestic and commercial RHI and Feed-in Tariffs, to maximise uptake. While uncertainties remain, there is a risk that end users will put off installing renewables until they know exactly what financial returns they can expect to see and actual payback periods.

In anticipation of domestic RHI and Green Deal, where launch dates are not clear, we feel that an extension to RHPP, which still has a substantial amount of unclaimed funding, would at least provide ‘early adopters’ with some incentive in the interim. Installers who are ahead of the game and already trained and ready to install renewables deserve as much support as possible in the current economic climate.

For end users who are not on the mains gas network, we would like to see additional incentives, over and above the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) replacement for CERT and CESP, which assist low income families, those most likely to be in fuel poverty, in taking advantage of a full range of energy efficiency measures.

As a manufacturer we have two priorities in relation to the Green Deal. Firstly, to ensure that all our products are listed under the auspices of the scheme. Second and perhaps most importantly, will be to provide training and support to our customers, helping them to maximise the opportunities that result from whatever combination of government schemes it takes to drive energy efficiency and low carbon technologies forward. We believe that installers have a fundamental role to play in reducing carbon emissions and will be pushing for flexible and straightforward ways for everyone to participate.