Green Deal ‘failed to deliver’, says NAO

The National Audit Office (NAO) has slammed the government’s Green Deal scheme, claiming it has “not achieved value for money” and leaves “significant gaps” in its information on costs.

The Green Deal, designed to increase the energy efficiency of existing homes, cost taxpayers £240 million. The Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) announced last July that funding for the scheme would be closed after just 10,000 properties signed up.

The NAO report blamed Decc’s design and implementation of the scheme which “did not persuade householders that energy efficiency measures are worth paying for.” However, it acknowledged that Decc did achieve its target to improve 1 million homes through a combination of the Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation schemes.

NAO comptroller and auditor general Amyas Morse said: “Improving household energy efficiency is central to government achieving its aims of providing taxpayers with secure, affordable and sustainable energy.

“[Decc’s] ambitious aim to encourage households to pay for measures looked good on paper, as it would have reduced the financial burden of improvements on all energy consumers. But in practice, its Green Deal design not only failed to deliver any meaningful benefit, it increased suppliers’ costs – and therefore energy bills – in meeting their obligations through the ECO scheme.”

So far the cost to suppliers of meeting their Eco obligations between January 2013 and December 2015 has been £3 billion. Eco is expected to be recast in 2018 after the current scheme closes in March next year.

“The Department now needs to be more realistic about consumers’ and suppliers’ motivations when designing schemes in future to ensure it achieves its aims,” Morse added.