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THE GREEN DEAL
The Green Deal explained...
The Green Deal is the Government program to ensure the UK can meet its targets under the Kyoto protocol – to reduce carbon emissions by 34% below 1990 levels by 2020 and 80% below 1990 levels by 2050. Millions of pounds have been allocated to the Green Deal and it started January 2013.
- A warmer home
- A more efficient business
- Lower bills
- No Upfront Cost for energy saving measures and installing clean energy systems
What does it mean to you?
Who is it For ?
The deal is aimed at all householders and businesses whose properties need measures to improve efficiency and reduce bills.
How Does it work ?
Anyone owning a property or business will, simply, be able to borrow money to reduce waste and reduce bills.
How much will I be able to borrow ?
It is estimated that the average sum involved will be around £6,000
How will it be paid back?
The golden rule of the Green Deal is that the works carried out under the Green Deal will more than pay for themselves.
How ?
Firstly, the works have to be assessed by an accredited Green Deal Advisor. He or she will assess the property and propose the most cost effective works to improve performance and reduce bills. This may involve replacing an old and inefficient boiler; new thermostatic radiator valves; loft insulation; cavity wall insulation, or perhaps double-glazed windows. The householder or business will then go to approved and accredited companies and look for quotes to get the work done. The cost of the works must be less than the savings which result. If they are then the works can go ahead. When they are complete the Green Deal Assessor comes back to make sure they have been carried out properly and will yield the predicted savings.
How is the loan paid back .
The works are costed over 25 years. So the loan is paid back over 25 years through your electricity bill. Since the annual savings must be more than the cost – you’ll be saving money, as gas and electricity bills will be reduced. The golden Rule – the works must more than pay for themselves.
What happens if we move or sell our business ?
No problem, because the loan is not attached to an individual. The loan is for the property. So, whoever takes over the property continues to feel the benefits of the investment in the property through lower bills and those savings are more than enough to repay the loan. You won't feel the loan; you will fell the benefits – warmer and more comfortable environments and greater savings as fuel prices rise.
What We Do For You (the process)
“By 2020, we will have seen a revolution in British Property. Millions of us will live and work in greater comfort, through upgraded and insulated properties which do not cost the earth to heat, with smarter controls and meters helping us manage our energy use, and generating our own heat and electricity.”
Our aim is to provide our customers with one simple clean and efficient pathway through the complete Green Deal.
First off we will organise the energy assessment for your home and business.
This is the beginning.
The assessment is entirely independent and objective carried out by an accredited Green Deal Assessor under strict Government guidelines. The independent report will assess your home or business in detail, give you a report on the energy saving measures which you can take and the amount of energy and so money you can save.
In order to qualify for Green Deal Finance – What ever is proposed be it an upgrade for the boiler, installing insulation or installing a renewable technology – the works must meet the Golden Rule.
- The savings over time must be greater than the cost of the works.
- So right from day one you are saving money by going ahead with the Green Deal.
The Golden Rule
Please be aware that we do make a charge for this initial survey to cover our cost but that is because the assessment belongs to you. You can go to any Green Deal Provider to have these measures installed. You can get quotes from any number of Green Deal Installers.
If you choose us we will be delighted! and this is what we will do:
• We will use the independent report to provide you with one simple comprehensive quotation for all the measures.
• We will break down the quote so you can see each measure we quote for independently. We will explain everything to you and make all the costs and benefits very clear.
• If you accept our proposal we will then install the measures for you.
• After they are installed the Green Deal Assessor will return to your home and business to assess whether the works have been carried out to the very strict Green Deal Installer standards and will yield the energy savings they should.
THE FEED IN TARIFF
The Feed-In tariff is the mechanism the government has set up to pay electricity producers for the electricity they produce – and you really benefit.
The mechanism is very simple. When we install a PV system, as part of that system we install an extra electricity meter that measures the total amount of electricity produced by the system. Every quarter you read the meter, phone the reading through to the company who supplies the electricity and – every quarter – the electricity company pays for the electricity produced. To ensure readings are correct, once every two years they will come and read the meter themselves.
In addition, you will be paid for the electricity you produce – but do don’t consume. This is called the Export tariff. At present this is simply deemed: a calculation is made, which takes the total amount of electricity produced as read from the meter. That figure is halved and you’re paid an extra 4.5p a unit based on the calculation.
You also benefit from the electricity you generate and use. Every unit you produce and use is a unit you have not bought. So, if you’re paying 13p for a unit of electricity you save 13p for every kilowatt your system produces but use yourself.
In order to qualify for the Higher Feed-In tariff Rate the installation must comply with certain conditions.
- The house must have an energy performance certificate of D rating or higher.
- A roof survey must be carried out in order to ensure the roof is structurally sound and capable of supporting the additional load, which in the case of PV Panels is not large.
- The installation must be carried out by an MCS certified company, which of course we are.
The Feed-In tariff is the scheme brought in to provide financial incentives to encourage the installation of renewable, energy-based electricity generation. The Feed-In tariff varies depending on the type of technology and the size of the system installed.
The simple table below is for small scale solar PV:
| Totalinstalled capacity (kW) | Generation tariff with eligibility date 1 Aug - 31 Oct 2012 | Generation tariff with eligibility date 1 Nov 2012 - 31 Jan 2013 | Lower tariff (if energy effeciency (EPC) requirement not met) with eligibility date 1 Aug 2012 - 31 Jan 2013 |
|---|---|---|---|
| <4kW (new build and retrofit) | 16.0p/kWh | 15.44p/kWh | 7.1p/kWh |
| >4-10kW | 14.5p/kWh | 13.99p/kWh | 7.1p/kWh |
| >10-50kW | 13.5p/kWh | 13.03p/kWh | 7.1p/kWh |
| stand-alone | 7.1p/kWh | 7.1p/kWh | 7.1p/kWh |
How the Tariff works
When you install a Complete Plumbing Clean Energy solar PV system or wind turbine we will connect the system to the grid via your own generation meter. The meter will measure how much electricity you are actually producing. As an MCS Accredited company we at CPCE will register the meter along with details of the installation on the MCS database. We will send you the certificate and you then register for the Feed-In tariff with your electricity provider.
The electricity provider will then request a meter reading from you every quarter and will verify the meter reading no less frequently than once every two years. You will get a rebate on your electricity bill and sent a cheque every three months.
Energy Performance Certificates
It is current policy that all installations must have an energy performance certififcate for D rating property or better. However Complete Plumbing Clean Energy can commission a survey of the property on your behalf and can recommend and install the most cost effective measures to raise the performance of the property – and lower your bills at the same time.
For example:
- On our smart house we have a 2kW system of eight panels producing 1667.2 kWh (units of electricity)
- The Feed-In tariff means that our owner will receive 15.4p for each kWh (unit of electricity)
- In addition, the government makes the assumption that the average householder will use half the electricity the system produces and the other half will be fed back into the grid (electricity network)
- So, the scheme pays an addition 4.5p for half the total PRODUCED
- The house will use some of the electricity the system produces. So, on a summer’s day, the house is empty and very little electricity is being used but the system is still producing electricity. This will be fed back into the grid. Much more will be used on the weekends
- The scheme doesn’t measure what is used and what is fed back. It merely assumes (deems) that half will be used and half fed back
Let's take an example...
A two-kilowatt system of eight panels on a south-facing roof may produce something in the region of 1700 kilowatt hours a year (units of electricity).
£262.48 would be paid for the total amount read on the meter (generation tariff) based on 15.44p per kWh.
£34 would be paid for electricity generated but not used.
£110.50 would be the savings from using half the electricity you generate.
Other Technologies
The Feed-In tariff is also available for other technologies that generate electricity, such as wind turbines, or boilers – which generate electricity as well as heat your home or business. These are called Combined Heat and Power systems (CHP).
The rates for these systems are set out in the table below:
Summary of hydro, wind and micro-CHP tariffs
| Technology | Tariff band (kW capacity) | Tariffs from 1 december 2012 |
|---|---|---|
| Hydro | <15 | 21.0p/kWh |
| >15 to <100 | 19.6p/kWh | |
| Wind | <1.5 | 21.0p/kWh |
| >1.5 to <15 | 21.0p/kWh | |
| >15 to <100 | 21.0p/kWh | |
| Micro-CHP | <2kW | 12.5p/kWh |
THE RENEWABLE HEAT INCENTIVE (RHI)
The Renewable Heat Incentive is the new scheme due to be introduced by the Government to promote and encourage the installation of clean energy systems to provide heating and hot water. The idea of the scheme is to meet the additional cost of installing a renewable system over the cost of a conventional system.
Like the Feed-In tariff, it will provide payments for each kilowatt of heat provided by a renewable energy system. What renewable energy systems are included? Solar systems that heat water, Air Source and Ground Source Heat Pumps and Combined Heat and Power Boilers, which generate electricity and provide heating, will all qualify.
The scheme already exists for the non-domestic sector and is due to be introduced for individual households from the summer of 2013. Either the performance of the system will be deduced against Government standards and payments made on that basis, or the heat produced by the system will be metered and read in just the same way as your electricity or gas meter is read. Only in this case instead of receiving a bill, the customer gets a cheque based on the actual performance of the system.
In order to qualify the system must be installed by a Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) company such as Complete Plumbing Clean Energy – in order to guarantee the quality and the performance of the system.
Here are the proposed rates the government is considering for the Renewable Heat Incentive:
- Air Source Heat Pumps: the rate will be set between 6.9p and 11.5p per kWh.
- Ground Source Heat Pumps: between 12.5p and 17.3p per kWh.
- Solar thermal Systems (Hot water): 17.3p per kWh.
- Biomass Boilers: between 5.2 and 8.7p per kWh.
E.G. Our house
Our Solar Thermal System would yield 1158 kWh, which would be £202.65 at the RHI rate of 17.5p per kWh.
Our Air Source Heat Pump would produce 7881 kWh for heating and 1457 kWh for hot water, which would yield £644.33 a year at the 6.9p per kWh rate and £1073 a year at the 11.5p per kWh rate.
And in our detached house our Ground Source Heat Pump would produce 10247 kWh for heating and 1397 kWh for hot water and so would yield £1455 a year in RHI payments at the lower 12.5p rate and £2014 a year at the higher 17.3p per kWh rate.
BUILDING REGULATIONS, AND THE "CODE FOR SUSTAINABLE HOMES"
The "code for sustainable homes" provides the standard by which the sustainability of new homes is measured. Its purpose is to provide a road map for the future direction of building regulations.
The code was launched in December 2006 and each code level from one to six demands successively greater improvements over 2006 Building Regulations, which is the baseline standard.
Planning authorities are increasingly demanding higher code levels and greater contributions from renewables. By 2016 "Code" level six may be the standard requirement. "Code" level six requires zero net carbon emissions i.e. a home that generates as much energy as it consumes
There are nine categories in the Code for Sustainable Homes - and each category earns a certain number of credits. In order to achieve any particular “Code” level the building must achieve a certain number of credits.
Categories
- Commercial and Domestic
- Service
- Breakdowns & Repairs
- Solar PV (Electricity)
- Solar Thermal Hot water)
- Air Source heat Pumps
- Ground Source heat Pumps
- Biomass Boilers
- LED Lighting Systems
In order to achieve a particular "Code" level, the development must achieve a certain number of credits in each category, with Mandatory performance levels in certain categories (denoted by an "M", above).
So, some examples of the issues raised by the “Code” are:
• Energy efficiency – minimising heat loss and heat gain, i.e. the better insulated the building and the lower the heat loss, the more credits in this category the building earns.
• Each "Code" level reduces the allowance of water that can be used in the property. This can be achieved by restricting the flow to the outlets, low water content in WCs, etc and also by systems that recycle rainwater or grey water recycling which recycles shower and bath water for use in WCs and washing machines.
• Each "Code" level requires greater use of energy efficient lighting - LED lighting would certainly earn credits in this category.
• You must demonstrate that building materials are sourced responsibly and that sustainable materials are used.
• The "Code" demands space for home working and for drying areas and cycle storage and addresses the need for adequate provision for recycling household waste.
PLANNING PERMISSION
The key legislation that underpins whether planning permission is required or not for the installation of solar panels and air source and ground source heat pumps is the Town and Country Planning (General Permitted Development) Order 2008.
The key considerations as to whether planning permission is required or not are:
- Is the installation in a conservation area?
- Is the installation for a listed building?
- Is the installation on a flat roof?
- Is the installation on a sloping or pitched roof?
Enquiries should be made at local planning offices for each installation. They should be able to advise whether the installation is likely to be considered a Permitted Development that does not require planning permission.
If the installation is for a listed building or in a conservation area it is imperative that the planning authority is consulted.
If the installation were on a flat roof but not in a conservation area or on a listed building then we would always advise consulting the planning authority and perhaps seeking a permitted development order.
If the installation is not in a conservation area or on a listed building and is to be sited on a sloping roof then – providing it is mounted on the roof and does not stand off the roof at any point more than 200mm and does not rise above the ridge line of the roof – it is likely to be considered Permitted Development. We would always advise seeking confirmation from the planning authority before proceeding with the installation.