Consumers need to be educated about the Green Deal before they have the desire to get behind it
Danny Alexander’s announcement that the Infrastructure Guarantee scheme will be applied to the Green Deal is fantastic news (Government to underwrite Green Deal,www.building.co.uk, 8 August), but we need to be careful not to see it as a silver bullet for the success of the scheme.
Government commitment to financially support the Green Deal will serve to bolster consumer confidence. However, there are other barriers to Green Deal success beyond the financial mechanisms that underpin its delivery.
Ultimately, consumer uptake will determine the success of the Green Deal but, with interest at an all time low, there is still a pressing need to ensure consumers actually understand the benefits they stand to realise. Ironically, it’s not the finance that’s troubling most people - it’s the perceived hassle and disruption to everyday life that inevitably comes when you “have the builders in”.
To address this, industry and government together need to strive to educate consumers about what’s involved in participating in the Green Deal. Acknowledging that it’s the practicalities not the technicalities that will mean the most to home owners, we need to demonstrate how suppliers and installers can work together to install improvements quickly, cost-effectively and quietly.
Only by doing this will consumers have the understanding and desire to get behind the Green Deal and make it a success.
Neil Donald, managing director, SIG Energy Management
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