Some Green Deal described as ‘atrocious’ by British Gas customer trial!

A pioneering Green Deal trial by British Gas involving 1000 of its customers has been only a modest success.  It suggested, in fact, that this might be a disappointing precursor to the actual Green Deal initiative, due to be launched in October!

The two principal themes that seemed to emerge were that energy efficiency is not ‘sexy’ enough to inspire homeowners and that they were not interested in taking on the additional debt that was key to Green Deal.

Addressing the All Party Parliamentary Green Deal Group, Graham Weller, British Gas Head of Green Deal, showed how consumer enthusiasm dropped off significantly following the initial public interest!

He said the trial was ‘the closest we could get to Green Deal’. There was a lot of interest at the front end of the ‘Green Deal go early trial’ but the number of sales actually confirmed was ‘relatively small.’

According to Weller: “Many British Gas customers were not up for doing everything in Green Deal! Some were not prepared for a two-hour survey in their parlour and many others were just seeking genetic advice’.

Summing it up, it appeared that some BG customers found it a ‘good deal’ while others concluded is was ‘atrocious!’

The APPG Green Deal is organized by Carbon Quarter which reports directly to DECC.

More information: www.decc.gov.uk/