El triángulo africano: Migraciones de africanos y sus descendientes

Do you have a view on whether measures funded through ECO from April 2015 should be recommended on the basis of a GDAR? In which case, do you have a view on whether Chartered Surveyors Reports (CSRs) should only be used to recommend measures in exceptional circumstances only? And if so, what should constitute an ‘exceptional circumstance’?

Consultation response

4 per cent of all respondents, including a number of local authorities and insulation companies, supported the proposal, however they expressed that in circumstances where a GDAR was not always appropriate, a CSR should be permitted to recommend a measure. Of the respondents who provided suggestions of ‘exceptional circumstances’, the examples below were suggested:

 Recommending a measure for a block of flats or a house of multiple occupancy (HMO);

 A non-standard property;

 Where there are many similar properties; and

 Where a district heating system connection would be recommended. Government response

The Government believes Green Deal Reports (which includes GDAR’s and GDIP’s) are a helpful measure which provide the consumer with tailor-made advice specific to the household; increasing the consumers’ awareness of potential improvements that could be made to their property. Their use also helps to develop a market for energy efficiency measures for householders who are able to pay. We encourage their use, but will not take legislative action at this stage to make them the default route for recommending ECO measures under the carbon-saving elements of the scheme.

Question 53

Do you have other views on improving accuracy of assessments, for example the use of lodged EPCs?

Consultation response

The majority of respondents were of the view that lodging assessments used for scoring purposes as EPCs on the register would increase the accuracy of assessments. Those in

The Customer Experience

favour included suppliers and representatives of the property and housing sectors. It was felt that this would increase the accuracy of assessments because the assessor completing the EPC in this way would be subject to audit checks by their accreditation body. In addition, many respondents raised the point that the lodging of assessments as EPCs is an established common practice across the supply chain and would therefore not be a regulatory burden. Of those respondents who disagreed with the proposal, some respondents felt that this would increase the costs of the scheme and was unnecessary.

Government response

We believe that requiring the relevant scoring assessments to be lodged as EPCs could increase the accuracy of assessments for ECO. This is because the assessor completing the EPC will be subject to audit by their accreditation body. This would provide greater assurance that the data used to calculate the carbon score for an ECO measure is more accurate. The proposal to legislate to provide for this raises some complex issues, given that it is legitimate in some cases for other forms of assessment (which could not readily be lodged as EPCs) to be used for scoring purposes, and for the moment we do not plan to introduce any new regulatory requirement, but we will continue to look at the option of legislating, and in the meantime we strongly encourage the supply chain wherever possible to conduct and lodge EPCs for scoring purposes.

Question 54

Where GDARs are a paid for service when recommending Affordable Warmth measures, we welcome views on where any cost would likely - or indeed – should sit.

Consultation response

There were 140 responses to this question. The majority of respondents used this question to restate their response to question 52 that not all measures funded through ECO from April 2015 should be recommended on the basis of a GDAR. Respondents of this view stated that mandating the use of GDARs for recommending Affordable Warmth measures would add significant additional time and cost to the process for little to no gain for the customer and therefore would diminish the level of Affordable Warmth activity.

Respondents stated that if GDARs were to be required for Affordable Warmth measures then the cost should not sit with low income and vulnerable households. There were mixed responses in terms of where the cost should sit, with installers, energy suppliers and the Government all being suggested to meet the cost.

Government response

Government will not require Affordable Warmth measures to be recommended on the basis of a GDAR. Whilst we recognise the potential benefits of such an approach, we believe it would not be appropriate at this time for the reasons outlined by respondents (especially extra time

Detailed analysis of consultation responses and the Government’s response

and cost). We will continue to monitor the development of GDARs and how they could be further incorporated into the Affordable Warmth customer journey in future.

Question 55

Do you have a view on whether measures promoted under ECO from April 2015 should be delivered by an accredited Green Deal installer and/or an installer who is PAS2030 certified?

Consultation response

There were 166 responses to this question, of which 33 agreed, 4 disagreed and 129 expressed other views. Some respondents such as suppliers welcomed the proposal to mandate Green Deal Installers from April 2015. However this was heavily caveated with the argument that if this standard were required, Ofgem’s technical monitoring regime should be made redundant. On the other hand, a number of installers argued that the proposal was unnecessary because installers already have to comply with PAS 2030 and this would lead to increased costs and restrict the installer market. A theme from a large number of respondents was that there was a desire to improve standards across ECO.

Government response

In the longer term Government will look to improve alignment between all strands of the Department’s home efficiency policies, for example by ensuring that registration as “Green Deal Installer” acts as a passport to participation in ECO and other schemes as well. This would have particular benefits if it were to allow harmonisation of monitoring and auditing requirements, removing any risk of onerous double banking between the activity of Ofgem and of the various certification bodies respectively. However, for the moment, the Government does not wish to rely on Green Deal Installer authorisation to ensure that installers adhere to the Green Deal Code of Practice (and therefore PAS) when carrying out work other than under a Green Deal finance plan. Thus, although all Green Deal Installers are necessarily PAS accredited, the Government will for the moment retain the express requirement for ECO measures to be installed in accordance with PAS to avoid any relaxation in consumer protection.

The Customer Experience

The Energy Savings Advice Service