One of our Green Deal Assessors will visit and complete a Green Deal Advice Report on your home. The survey will rate your home’s energy efficiency, assess how the people living there use it and make recommendations. Once you have agreed your Green Deal Plan, as Green Deal Provider we can then arrange the install to have the recommendations carried out.

A more energy efficient home uses less energy, therefore saving money on energy bills. You will also be helping to reduce carbon emissions and doing your bit for the environment.

It is the Government’s intention that there be no restrictions on who can apply for finance through the Green Deal, so potentially all of the UK’s 26 million households could take advantage. It is not means tested in the way that most benefits are and neither an applicant’s current credit commitments nor his past credit history will be taken into account. Applicants do not need to own their home to benefit and where a property is rented, either the landlord or the tenant could apply.

It is estimated that each home will be entitled to up to £10,000 worth of Green Deal finance but of course the Green Deal will only provide as much finance as the recommended work requires.

The Green Deal Finance Company is a private-sector consortium looking to provide Green Deal finance to a wide customer base. It has submitted a business plan to the government for investment but the service has not been procured by government. Members of the Green Deal Finance Company include British Gas, Carillion, Clifford Chance, E.ON, EDF Energy, Goldman Sachs, HSBC, Insta Group, Kingfisher, Linklaters, Lloyds Bank Corporate Markets, Mark Group, npower, PwC, RBC Capital Markets and SSE.

There are a range of products available through the Green Deal, including:

• Products that keep the heat in, such as external and internal wall insulation, draught proofing and double glazing.
• Products that help you heat your home more efficiently, such as efficient boilers, heating controls and underfloor heating.
• Products to help you generate your own energy, such as solar panels and air source heat pumps.

The Green Deal finance will be attached to the property and not the individual. This will get around the problem of a homeowner having to continue repaying the loan after he has sold up and moved on. Unlike a mortgage however the loan does not need to be repaid upon sale.

The effect is that when purchasing the property he will be taking on responsibility for the loan and whilst this in itself is not onerous since he will also take the greater benefit of lower fuel bills, there will no doubt be other properties on the market where similar measures have been installed but with Green Deal finance. These properties are unlikely to be any more expensive as a result and so may be more attractive to a potential purchaser, particularly in a buyer’s property market which we have at present.

Yes. However, the current design of prepayment meters does not allow for the collection of the Green Deal payment as a standing charge, therefore the charge will be collected in the same way as arrears are collected.

Yes, providing that the new supplier is participating in the Green Deal payment collection mechanism.