Have you been cold called by a ‘Green Deal’ scam?

malcolm r, What you’ve said is basically good common sense. Ellie Simmonds says “It’s no wonder a scheme that helps you buy a new boiler or insulation for your home should be popular” well Ellie it’s actually not very popular. Green Deal take up has been a fraction of that envisaged by those who thought up the scheme, basically because it’s not a good scheme at all.

As a domestic energy assessor who has been looking closely at this scheme since it started I’ve concluded it’s a terrible scheme. I decided not to qualify as a Green deal assessor. I decided not to have anything to do with it.

An upfront Green Deal assessment costing about £100 often to tell you something you clearly already know, you’re supplier options are restricted to those who are Green Deal approved and who will charge much higher prices. A loan attached to the property paid back with a levy on your electricity bill and which will include something like 7% interest. Doesn’t sound like a good deal to me. Would you be keen on buying a property where you have to carry on paying for a boiler someone else had installed?

It can get even worse, if you are a tenant you’ll be paying to upgrade your Landlords property and you’ll save nothing or very little on your energy bills, but the landlord gets a free boiler installed in his property.

If you are on low income there is ECO “Energy Company Obligation” where upgrades can be installed free, nothing wrong with that, although I still think in the case of a rented property the landlord should be also obliged to contribute rather than everyone paying an energy bill.

For most of us though my advice is have nothing to do with the Green Deal, arrange your own finance, use a much cheaper local gas safe plumber for that new boiler and save yourself a small fortune.

Ellie talks about the danger of “Green Deal scammers”.???
I’m sure there are some but It’s the Green Deal that is the biggest scam Ellie.
Do a bit more research and consider alternative ways to get yourself upgraded and come back to us.

I must admit that when I read in the Intro that half a million homes had been assessed but that only 13,000 had entered into a Green Deal finance scheme I thought it showed the deal was not all it’s cracked up to be. Even allowing for the fact that many of the homes assessed might have been judged ineligible, and that many householders might have had the assessment but made their own financial arrangements as Malcolm recommends, that’s a pretty poor testimony for a potentially valuable way of improving energy efficiency and conservation in this country. Chris mentions the implications of selling a house which has outstanding financial commitments under the Green Deal and I think that is a worrying factor for many people that puts them off.

Hi Chris

Thanks for your comments. Perhaps it would have been better to say the Green Deal is “becoming more popular”. The concept of the Green Deal certainly seems to have broader appeal than the details of the scheme – we have heard from many people who like the idea in principle but are put off in practice.

You make a really interesting point about the housing market, I would be interested to hear from anyone who has bought a home with a Green Deal plan attached – or indeed, anyone who has been put off a sale or struggled to sell due to a Green Deal.

Ellie

@malcolm r, Excellent post. Well said.

Hi Jonah,
Did you ever get any success with to attemp to get the £299 back from Tivium?
Regards,
John