Partner Article

Is the Green Deal bottlenecking?

The Government is in danger of creating a Green Deal business bottleneck due to a lack of qualified assessors.

Utilitywise employs one of only five assessors in the country capable of carrying out Green Deal assessments on commercial premises, needed for funding from the scheme to be approved.

The Government has committed millions of pounds to its flagship energy saving scheme and there are over 44 companies ready to provide funding to businesses so that they can install energy saving measures.

But while there are currently over a 100 firms capable of carrying out assessments for the domestic green deal, the greater technical requirements for evaluating business energy use mean there are only five assessors in the UK currently capable of working with firms.

Utilitywise helps over 13,000 companies with their energy needs.The consultancy also works with a number of commercial and public sector green energy funds to provide for access to finance to firms wanting to install energy saving measures.

We are currently planning to accredit two more non-domestic Green Deal assessors but Utilitywise Energy Services Director Tim Hipperson believes there’s more the government can do.

“We’re currently in discussions with DECC over ways to speed up the assessment process and cut the costs of the scheme in order to get funding into the hands of businesses sooner rather than later.” he said.

“As well as supporting individual businesses by reducing their overheads, the scheme has the potential to reduce the demand on the UKs antiquated energy infrastructure and go some way to mitigating the risk against security of supply.”

And despite the current bottleneck, Hipperson believes that businesses should sit up and take notice of the non-domestic Green Deal.

“Owners of commercial properties are much better placed to take advantage of the green deal than consumers, because they understand the business model and can build it into their balance sheets.” he added.

“We know the demand is there because we’re seeing growing numbers of companies getting in touch about Utilitywise’s Energy Audit and asking us to carry out energy saving projects.”

“Utilitywise has been offering a range of financing schemes to businesses since last year, so we know Green Deal makes a lot of sense.”

“Companies, particularly those who haven’t addressed their energy costs, could benefit significantly from the Green Deal but the scheme is struggling to gain any traction at present because of the lack of qualified assessors.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Utilitywise .