In the light of two damning reports into the failures of the Green Deal, Knauf Insulation is again calling for urgent revisions to the scheme.
Figures attributed to the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency suggest that cavity wall installations fell 97 per cent in April 2013 compared with the same month last year. The figures show that 1,138 installations were completed last month, down from 49,650 in April 2012.
This comes in the wake of the first official review of Green Deal and ECO by the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee, in which it criticised the Government’s “confusion” and lack of "a clear idea of what success would look like" for the energy efficiency schemes.
Steven Heath, External Affairs Director for Knauf Insulation, comments: “These reports confirm what the industry has been warning about for the last year, that the complete lack of any transition period between the old CERT driven market and the new order will decimate the cavity wall insulation industry.
“Our argument is that significant ‘demand drivers’ are urgently needed in order to create momentum amongst householders. Energy efficiency refurbishments must be made attractive to ALL – and that means driving activity across housing stock and allowing consumers to decide if Green Deal is the right route for them. The cash back incentives currently in place are intended to drive the Green Deal alone but the figures published to date suggest it is not a compelling offer.
“Stopping the requirement for a Green Deal provider signature to access the cash back incentives, or building structural drivers like linking Stamp Duty to the property’s energy efficiency, would deliver enough activity to allow the highly developed supply chain built around CERT driven measures to adjust to the new market. Otherwise, much of this ‘shovel ready’ delivery infrastructure will begin to disappear – a process that is already happening, as demonstrated by the 5,000 job losses in the insulation industry to date since the end of CERT and the demise of pioneering Green Deal provider Enact Energy, which went into administration last week.”