Who Does What in the Green Deal?
The Green Deal is the Government’s grand plan to get us all more energy efficient, thus reducing our fuel bills and more importantly, carbon emissions. It involves taking a loan to pay for energy efficiency measures such as insulation or a new boiler which is then attached to the energy bill and repaid along with it. At first glance you may think it should be a pretty straightforward process involving you and the company installing the insulation or whatever, but you’d be wrong.
In fact there are three major players; or at least three major roles (the same company may play two or even all three) in any Green Deal package. They are the Green Deal Provider, Green Dean Advisor and Green Deal Installer. Each plays an important part in the process to ensure that the principles of the scheme are adhered to and the consumer is protected.
The Green Deal Provider
The Green Deal Provider is the organiser. It arranges the finance and instructs the installer. These are the heavyweight companies such as B & Q, M & S and Tesco. Unlike the advisor and the installer, the provider remains involved throughout the life of the green deal plan, handling complaints and collecting the repayments, via the energy companies.
A Green Deal Provider may operate in a number of ways. It may employ its own staff to deal with the assessment and the installation thus being a “one stop shop”, it may provide the finance only or it may outsource the whole process, being merely the “face of the brand”.
The Green Deal Advisor
Before any measures are installed under a green deal plan, there must be an assessment of the property carried out by an approved advisor. The assessment will look at the energy efficiency of the home, producing an advanced version of the Energy Performance Certificate which is currently needed when selling a property. It will also look at the ways in which the current occupants used energy.
The Green Deal Advisor will be responsible for advising which measures would qualify for the Green Deal, based on the golden rule principle that the cost of the loan repayments should never be greater than the resulting energy savings and advising which measures would represent the best deal for the home owner. Although the advisor may be employed by the company acting as provider, he must of course maintain his independence.
The Green Deal Installer
Once the assessment has been completed, the measures have been chosen by the bill payer and the finance has been approved, installation can take place. To qualify for the Green Deal installations must only be carried by an approved installer. To become an approved installer, a person must meet a set of competency standards, comply with the soon to be published Green Deal Code of Practice and be registered for the Green Deal.
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