Want to make your home more energy-efficient without having
to provide money upfront? This is where the Green Deal can help. The Green Deal
is the government’s plan to help households become more energy efficient
without upfront costs to pay for the improvements. This plan was set in place
from 28th January 2013, so you can now get funding of up to £10,000
to help pay for your home energy improvement measures. Therefore, instead of
using your savings or taking out loans to install your improvement measures
such as loft insulation, solid wall insulation, double glazing, renewable
energy systems or even a new boiler, you can take out a long-term Green Deal
finance package instead that is attached to your property.
The Green Deal is available to everyone so anyone can
benefit from a Green Deal assessment at their home in the UK. If you are
interested in improving your home’s energy efficiency then read on.
What happens next?
If you are interested in the Green Deal you will need to
undergo an inspection of your home by a local certified Green Deal Assessor. The
Green Deal assessment process is made up of two main parts, the Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC) and an Occupancy Assessment (OA) so that your
assessor can give you specific recommendations tailored to your energy usage
and the fabric of your home.
The EPC determines your home’s energy performance; your
assessor will walk around your home making a floor plan, taking photos as
supporting evidence and look at what your home is built with. This is
non-evasive so your assessor will not venture anywhere that is locked or lift boards.
The OA is the second section of the assessment, where your personal energy
usage is measured. The sort of questions you can expect to be asked include,
what temperature your thermostat is set to and what your heating timings are
set to. You will also go through your energy bills with the assessor so they
can input how much you currently spend on energy.
Depending on the results from the assessment your Green Deal
assessor will not only give you recommendations that you can get through the
Green Deal but they will also advise you on how you might be wasting energy in
your everyday routine and which measures you can put in place to suit your
lifestyle and home. Therefore, creating a Green Deal Plan specifically tailored
to your preferences and property. Your plan also contains the financial terms
and agreements and the customer protection measures such as guarantees and
warranties to cover the installation and measures.
After your Green Deal assessment
Once your Green Deal plan has
been created it needs to be assessed by a Green Deal Provider who will approve
and arrange your finances to cover your home improvements installations. Your
provider is responsible for your finance funding, over-seeing the installation
of your energy measures and dealing with your queries and for providing
information when a new bill payer moves in.
Once your home improvements have
been approved and finance has been put in place you can start having your
energy efficiency measures installed at your property. However, only an
authorised Green Deal installer carrying a Green Deal quality mark can install
your improvements to ensure that you will be eligible for the Green Deal
finance.
There are over 40
different energy efficient measures available for installation at your property,
including, boilers, home insulation, electric storage heaters and
microgeneration products such as air and ground source heat pumps, solar PV,
solar thermal and biomass boilers to name a few. These home improvements will
not only improve your comfort of living but also reduce costs and CO2
emissions.
Article written by Liverpool
Green Deal Upgrade, your local Green Deal Assessor for homes in Liverpool
and the rest of the UK.
