We're joined by special guests Rose Gilroy and Neveen Hamza from Newcastle University and Rt Hon Sir Alan Beith Etc from Berwick-upon-Tweed.
We'll be discussing whether the Green Deal, which is the proposed solution to fuel poverty and carbon emissions from people's homes, does the job. And whether it's fair. Rose and Neveen have researched fuel poverty and energy efficiency for years and Big Suralan was behind the original Energy Conservation Act.
The Green Deal is supposed to reach the areas other energy efficiency schemes failed to help, such as tenants in private rented homes, homeowners who'd like to do something but are afraid they won't get payback before they sell, and people who'd desperately like to reduce their bills but have no money.
You'll get the chance to decide whether it will work for you, and tell Big Al how it should be different - it's not the law yet. Admittedly he doesn't have much form on standing up to his coalition masters, but this could be the first time.
There are 3 major issues with current approaches to getting people's homes insulated to reduce their bills and the CO2 from domestic energy use.
1. Saving energy for people who own their homes is a short-term thing. People often don't look more than a couple of years in advance. If they'll be selling soon, or they might, why invest in energy efficiency which may not be reflected in the price they get for their home?
2. Saving energy for homeowners is also a tomorrow thing. The loss of heat and the waste of money are like a dripping tap. You get wound up, but often not quite enough to do anything about it.
3. Saving energy for landlords is a who-cares thing. The tenant normally pays the bills. There's no incentive for the landlord to insulate the house until they come to sell it. And even then, it's an unusual house purchaser who starts checking the loft and asking about solid wall insulation.
We could add a 4th issue, that Warmfront/Eaga, who used to run the government insulation scheme, were fecking useless - making people wait for 4 months or more and often suffering serious hardship in the process. But we'll be shot of them under the new scheme.
Home in North Northumberland have two particularly obvious problems.
1. They are typically harder-to-treat. A majority of homes don't have cavity walls.There has never been a grant for interior solid wall insulation. There are significant numbers of homes with lofts used as room space, which are also harder to treat.
2. With the exception of Alnwick, Amble and Berwick no other homes are on the gas network. They pay for oil which swings wildly up and down in price with conflicts and speculation and there's an increasing monopoly in suppliers. Oil boilers are usually much more inefficient than gas boilers. It's an old technology, nobody really innovates here. And you if aren't on the gas network, there are no dual fuel deals from your friendly local neighbourhood bloodsucking energy supplier.
So here's the government's Green deal. Does it tackle these problems? Well, kind of. In short the improvements get made at no upfront cost and are then paid back at a commercial rate through household energy bills. If the house is sold while the debt is still being paid back it's remains with the house, and the new billpayer continues paying.
To stop people's bills actually increasing as a result of all these home improvements, a fancy calculation is carried out which estimates the annual saving the improvement will make to your bills. Only if this is higher than the repayment is the work eligible to take place at no upfront cost under the Green deal. So your bills should not go up as a result of the improvements. Although of course they might continue to rise under the influence of fuel shortages and the rising costs energy companies' bills for champagne and fat cigars.
So let's test it against the proposals above. Eaga aren't involved, by the way, so that's an immediate plus point.
1. Short-termism for homeowners - it might well tackle this. It remains to be seen whether there will be sensitivities amongst mortgage companies and homebuyers about taking on debts attached to the house. If these are substantial, mortgage companies would ask for a larger deposit, homebuyers would expect them to want to see it factored into the asking price. Not necessarily terminal - if you get a lot of take-up, it will start to appear as normal as all the other mad stuff which happens around home-buying, and people will accept it. But if not, it could be offputting.
2. Inertia amongst homeowners - it's not at all clear that it will do the business here. If the scheme gets lots of lenders interested, there will no doubt be junk mail bombardment with ever more dazzling financial schemes which people will not understand or choose between and they won't go for any. Council houses and housing association properties normally have great insulation. They tell the tenant when it's going in and it goes in. No indecision around the product choice there. But you know, Englishmen, castles, all that. It's just not done with homeowners.
3. Inertia amongst landlords - The landlord can opt for home improvements which are added to their tenants' energy bills as long as the improvements reduce the overall size of the bill. The tenant can also approach the landlord and make requests for improvements which the landlord must grant if they are 'reasonable' (ah - that, lovely legal word. I will look forward to those court cases where tenants sue their landlords. Not.) I wonder whether people would think this is fair. After all the landlord has all the benefit of the property when they boot the tenants out and sell if for more cos it's nice and cosy, but they haven't paid a bean for the improvements. And is it landlords' self-interest we should be worried about, here, or are they just running the property for some cash? I've had plenty of landlords in the past who would run away from a tenant waving a form as they would the taxman.
That's enough of a preview. But Friends of the Earth are making specific demands about the Green Deal. You can find out more about them, bellow ungracefully, drink wine for a donation and enjoy an evening of hot air for the sum of one English pound. Another way to reduce your heating bill.
Hope to see you there.
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