The former flagship initiative has seen the number of energy efficiency plans in operation fall to the lowest level since March 2014. In November 2015, the latest month for which figures are available, there were 729 Green Deal plans installed. A total of 14,799 Green Deal plans were in operation, down from 15,138 the previous month, and from a high of 16,456 in July 2015.
The Department for Energy and Climate Change (Decc) announced last July that there would be no further funding for the Green Deal. The initiative, launched to great fanfare in 2012-13, was initially intended to see energy efficiency measures installed in tens of thousands of homes.
The government has yet to confirm what measures will replace the Green Deal and its sister scheme for lower income households, ECO. Energy minister Lord Bourne recently told MPs that the replacement measures would focus on helping the fuel poor.
Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) chief executive Mike Foster told Utility Week there is “still an appetite amongst consumers for a green energy scheme,” and called for future energy efficiency measures to be linked to the smart meter rollout: “Assessments were a great idea but does it make sense while the smart meter rollout is going on?”
Other figures released by Decc this week show that the Green Deal Home Improvement fund has also peaked, with just 343 payments made in November 2015, down from a high of 3,208 in July 2014.
Suppliers have continued to pay out to meet their ECO obligations, with payments for the third quarter of 2015 holding steady at £124m. The total cost of the scheme so far has been £2,863.1m.