Lisa Nandy savages Green Deal over £17,000 cost per household

Lisa Nandy has accused the Government of “short-changing” taxpayers after a report revealed the £17,000 cost for each home taking part in the Green Deal.

The £240m scheme has not delivered value for money or cut carbon emissions, said the report from the National Audit Office, an independent watchdog. The Government originally planned for the deal to focus on homes where there was the greatest difficulty in cutting energy use – but changed this strategy following a lack of demand.

The Green Deal was designed to offer loans to households to carry out energy-efficient upgrades. These would be paid back through a charge on those homes’ energy bills. Putting the cost onto individual households contributed to the failure of the scheme as the Government failed to convince people that it was worth paying for the changes.

With only 14,000 homes using the scheme, the Green Deal Finance Company – the firm set up by Government to undertake the project – has failed to deliver sufficient revenue.

The Green Deal came to a halt after the Government ruled out any future loans to the finance company in mid-2015. One of these loans – a £25m stakeholder loan, with £6m interest – is not expected to be recovered, the NAO said.

Labour’s Shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy said the Conservatives failed the national interest with such a badly-designed scheme.

“This damning report shows it isn’t just the energy companies who are short-changing their customers, it’s the Tories too.

“Investment in energy saving should be a national priority but these schemes are so badly designed they are ripping people off and failing to target those families who need help the most.”