A number of household names in banking and home improvement are joining forces to bankroll cheap loans for the Government’s soon-to-be-launched green deal energy efficiency drive.
The Green Deal is due to be introduced next autumn, and some of the most well known names from building and banking are teaming up with energy firms to provide billions of pounds of energy efficiency investment through the creation of a not-for-profit financial consortium.
The likes of HSBC, British Gas and B&Q are just three of the 16-strong consortium who will be making low-cost loans available to the 14 million UK homes expected to be refitted under the Government’s flagship Green Deal scheme.
Co-ordinating the founding of the Green Deal Finance Company, Paul Davies, a senior partner at consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers believes the move to put together a not-for-profit venture as a means of building a new market is unique in Britain.
Davies, who expects the finance consortium to run a loan book totalling billions of pounds a year, said: “The new company would put together as many loans as possible and very quickly give access to the capital markets.”
The Green Deal – which will provide homeowners and businesses with access to loans to lag lofts and fit cavity wall insulation, amongst other things – is designed to help reduce fuel poverty and drive the cuts that need to be made to the nation’s carbon emissions. But the Government has quite a fight on its hands, with a quarter of the UK’s emissions coming from heating and powering homes alone.
The Green Deal Finance Company will eventually open its doors to any company or local authority wishing to join. Although they are not part of the initial founding group, it is hoped companies with strong consumer brands, such as Marks and Spencer and Tesco, will eventually come on board.