The EUA’s chief executive Mike Foster told Utility Week that the Conservative’s election manifesto was “sparse in detail”, but welcomed the certainty a single party government will bring to the industry.
The Conservative manifesto only mentioned energy efficiency twice, pledging to “bring energy efficiency measures to over one million homes” during the next five years, but giving little detail on how this will be done. In addition, Foster said a review of why the Green Deal failed to deliver meaningful change should also be undertaken.
Foster said: “The manifesto document was quite sparse in detail with regards to energy efficiency, so I will be looking to have what I hope will be fruitful conversations about the Green Deal, ECO, Renewable Heat Incentives, fuel poverty – there is a big, long list.”
Foster reiterated the need for review of the Green Deal scheme following the election saying: “I am convinced there has to be a review to give better understanding of why it hasn’t worked.”
He said that other associations within the industry held the same view that “unnecessary red tape” in the form of Publicly Available Specification (PAS) 2030 accreditation was to the detriment of the scheme.
The EUA has previously called for the removal of this accreditation, zero percent interest rates and targeted support to encourage homeowners to replace “zombie” boilers in any review of the scheme.
It said it expected to be consulted on proposals for replacement of the Green Deal within months of the election, but has yet to have any meaningful in depth conversations with government.