Hosted by Lord Faulkner, over 100 installers from around the UK joined managing director, Carl Arntzen and Greg Barker MP, minister of state for energy and climate change.
Greg Barker delivered the evening’s keynote speech during which he outlined the government’s plans to further develop the Green Deal and Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) in 2014. “Whilst there is still a long way to go in terms of finer details, the Green Deal is really starting to gain momentum,” he told attendees. “Over 85,000 homes in the UK have had an assessment so far and I am confident we will cross the 100,000 mark before the New Year.
“What is most impressive is that over 80% of those who have had the assessment have reported they have either installed or intend to act on the Green Deal approved measures, showing interest is present amongst consumers.”
Andy Baxter from High Efficiency Heating UK was just one installer to express his concern that the Green Deal only appears to be accessible via the Big Six energy providers at the moment. To be effective it needs to somehow filter its way down to installers and be made as simple as possible to deliver, he suggested, whilst making comparisons to the boiler scrappage scheme of 2010, which was straightforward to administer and easily understood by the general public.
Neil Schofield, head of external and governmental affairs at Worcester added: “Worcester is dedicated to championing the role of the installer in delivering the likes of the Green Deal and RHI, which is why this was such a worthwhile evening to host. It was particularly good to hear installers voicing their opinions on how these policies could be improved – with a view to making them more accessible and easier to administer – and to see the energy mnister responding in such a positive manner.”