Energy efficiency grants dry up in hours | | Guardian Unlimited Business

Energy efficiency grants dry up in hours

The government's scheme to help people make their houses more energy efficient has run into trouble again, this time because the money allocated for February ran out just ten hours into the month - at 10.15am on February 1.
The Department of Trade and Industry's low carbon buildings programme, designed to boost the installation of solar panels and wind turbines on houses, has been dogged by insufficient funds and soaring demand. The £3.5m originally allocated for the 2005-06 fiscal year ran out after just six months.


Article continues




Energy minister Malcolm Wicks responded by shifting other funds into the household pot and then, to ensure the grant system ran for the planned three years, the DTI divided the money into monthly allocations of half a million pounds.
But many people have found that when they apply for grants, the money has run out and they have to reapply the following month. So many people attempted to reapply last Thursday that they used up the money by 10.15am.
"It is disgusting, particularly after all the rhetoric from the government, that there is only half a million a month to help people who want to save the planet," said Jeremy Thompson-Hill, a director of a software firm who is planning to put solar panels on his roof. "I tried to get a grant on the morning of the first only to find the money had run out. I will have to try again next month but I am feeling less motivated now."
The Renewable Energy Association accused the DTI of killing off demand from homeowners desperate to go green.
Graham Meeks, a spokesman for the association, said: "February 1, 2007 will long be remembered by our members as the day that the LCBP finally descended into farce. But I hope that it isn't the day that thousands of householders also gave up on their ambition to invest in secure, renewable energy for their homes."
The association and other trade bodies had already urged the DTI not to go to monthly caps for grants which they say create huge uncertainty in the industry. They also want the government to pump more money into the programme.
The overall programme, which includes support for renewable energy projects on commercial and public buildings, has £80m of public money to last three years, a tiny fraction of the £1bn a year that will be raised from the increase in air passenger duty that also kicked in on February 1.
A DTI spokesman said the low-carbon scheme was a victim of its own success. "The original funding pot of £6.5m was increased by £6.2m in October."
He said the monthly allocation was to ensure the scheme would last till mid 2008. "By this time some of our wider measures to promote micro-generation should be taking hold and we believe the household sector may have matured to a point where government subsidy is no longer needed."
The scheme gives grants up to 50% for solar photovoltaic panels, a flat £400 for solar thermal, which produces hot water, and 30% for wind turbines, hydro-electric installations or air-source heat pumps.