The Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC) has begun offering new loans for energy efficiency measures for the first time in almost two years.
The company is undertaking a soft relaunch ahead of a wider brand overhaul and rollout expected later in 2017.
During this initial phase, GDFC will focus on improving its loan product and customer service by working with a small group of trusted Green Deal providers.
“Whilst there is still work to do to develop and improve the Green Deal product, we are delighted to be able to take this significant first step of making loans accessible to homeowners again to improve their homes through Green Deal finance,” said chief executive Kilian Pender.
“Given our focus on quality control and providing high levels of service to our customers and installer partners, we have taken the decision to start slowly through a select number of , although we hope to offer finance through a wider number over the coming months.”
The Green Deal scheme was launched by the government in 2013 to enable customers to borrow money to install energy efficiency measures in their homes and then pay back the loans using the savings from future energy bills. GDFC was created to buy up the loans from Green Deal providers.
As the loans are tied to the properties, the payments are made by whoever is benefitting from the measures. The scheme was effectively ended in July 2015 when the government cut off funding.
GDFC and its existing loan book were bought from the government in January by Aurium Capital Markets and Greenstone Finance for £40 million.
Pender said since then the company has received “a very significant amount of support” from stakeholders, “all of whom are eager to see the scheme continue where it left off and build further momentum.”
Last month the company revealed plans to raise £5 million by launching a new retail bond via the peer-to-peer finance platform Abundance Investment.