Green Deal consortium

A not-for-profit organisation has been set up by an industry consortium to finance the best value Green Deal option for consumers.

The consortium which includes 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, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the business plan for The Green Deal Finance Company (TGDFC).

The consortium is already working closely with DECC, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and local authorities and over the next few months many more new associate members are expected to, including suppliers, installers, providers, local authorities, and industry and consumer representative bodies.

Paul Davies, PwC lead partner on The Green Deal Finance Company, said: “The success of The Green Deal Finance Company will be a fundamental building block in the overall success of the Green Deal programme. By minimising the cost of finance to future accredited Green Deal providers, it will create a highly competitive market that will compete on cost, reliability, lifespan and technology. It will maximise the measures that can be included within the Green Deal and for many potential providers will solve the question of where their finance will come from.”

Its membership, once operational, will be open to all interested parties in the sector and is intended to be representative of the whole market.

Chris Huhne, Secretary of State at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, said: “This is an exciting initiative with the potential to reduce interest rates on Green Deal finance, while also supporting healthy competition amongst Green Deal providers including small businesses. New firms like the Green Deal Finance Company are testament to the attractiveness of the Green Deal framework and its potential to offer a better deal to consumers.”

The Green Deal is a Government-sponsored framework to allow private firms to offer all UK consumers (households, communities and workplaces) energy efficient improvements to their buildings. Consumers will pay back the cost of such improvements through the resulting savings in their energy bills. At the heart of the Green Deal is the rule that savings on bills will exceed the cost of the work and should exceed the repayment charges.