Months of discussion about how to resolve the troubled Low Carbon Buildings Programme have come to an end with today's announcement from the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform that there will be no changes to the household grant scheme. BERR have proposed dealing with the failure of the scheme, not by solving its inherent flaws, but by extending it so that the low take-up rate can drift on for a further year.
Andrew Cooper, Head of On-site Renewables at the REA said,
"Government has totally ignored the advice of the renewable energy industry and the blindingly obvious evidence of their own statistics. Making a failing programme fail over a longer period is not a solution. It is no longer the Low Carbon Buildings Programme it is the SLOW Carbon Buildings Programme. Slower to spend its budget, slower to attract interest from householders and slower to see actual renewable energy installations in homes. It shows breathtaking complacency by government."
"The proposals from the Renewable Energy Industry would not have cost the government any more than was already budgeted for but would have resulted in a scheme that would boost interest from householders and provide a platform for the industry to move on to a mass market for household renewables."
"We have to move on from here. The Renewable Energy industry wants to work constructively with government but is constantly met with obstacles, additional costs and precious few incentives to grow the industry. Government has a serious job to do to regain the trust of the renewable energy sector following this bitterly disappointing and illogical decision."
REA's Executive Director Philip Wolfe shared the disappointment.
"This decision provides further endorsement for renewable energy tariffs - and other financing proposals, like the Re-Charge scheme", he said. "We need to move beyond government grants which have failed householders time and again".
