Cavity wall and loft insulation dominate Green Deal installations

Housing Wed, Mar 23, 2016 10:29 AM

Almost two thirds of people who have had a Green Deal assessment will install some of the energy saving measures recommended, a new survey has found.

The research for the Department for Energy and Climate Change found 56 per cent of those polled had already installed some measure and a further 6 per cent were in the process of doing so.

The most frequently installed measures were cavity wall and loft insulation which were installed by around 60 per cent of respondents to whom they were recommended.

Another 19 per cent said they would “probably” or “definitely”  fit one of the technologies recommended while 14 per cent definitely or might not do so.

The survey indicated that there are benefits for companies that can carry out both assessment and installation. It found 57 per cent of households that had installed a measure had the work done by the same company that carried out their assessment and 15 per cent went to a different company recommended by the assessor.

The main reasons for not having installed a measure yet, amongst those that planned to, were needing more time to decide or not having got around to it.

But over a third of those who had decided not to go ahead with the work said the cost of the improvements was too high and over a quarter said there was no guarantee the work would save them money.

Just over 60 per cent of respondents said they had an assessment to save money on energy bills and almost the same proportion said they did it because the assessment was free – 80 per cent of those polled did not pay for their assessment.

Seventy-eight per cent said the assessment as useful. The number that said they would recommend an assessment to their friends and family rose from 64 per cent in the first batch of people surveyed to 72 per cent for the second.