The government's Green Deal made progress today as 22 organisations met with Climate Change Minister Greg Barker to sign an agreement with government which will see them become the first Green Deal providers. The Green Deal is a plan intended to improve the nation’s draughty homes at no upfront cost to the consumer. The organisations who have signed today’s agreement at DECC include big business, SMEs and a community group. Green Deal providers will be offering energy efficiency packages to consumers when the scheme launches later this year. The government will be working with the pioneers to ensure the move from testing into a managed launch in October works seamlessly and provides a good customer experience from day one.

Greg Barker said:

“The signing of this agreement between government and business pioneers represents a watershed moment in the development of the Green Deal. The commitment shown today highlights the opportunity organisations see in the Green Deal from community groups, SMEs to big business which only bodes well for the scheme’s future success.

“We will be working with these organisations to ensure they can fulfil the potential they have demonstrated today and become the first to offer Green Deals.”

The list of organisations, in alphabetical order, who have signed the agreement are:

Ampere GDP
Anglian Home Improvements
BritishEco
British Gas
CarbonLow Group
Carillion
Empower Community
Enact Energy
E.ON
Gentoo Group
Grafton Group
Insta Group
Keepmoat
Kingfisher
Mark Group
ReEnergise Finance
SIG plc
SSE
Stroma
Toriga Energy
Willmott Dixon Energy Services
Yorkshire Energy Services

In response to the signing today:

Sally Hancox, Director, Gentoo Group said: “Gentoo believes that the Green Deal is a great way to take forward the carbon and fuel poverty challenges facing the UK. The principles of the Green Deal are sound and we believe that social housing can play a great part. We are happy to be part of this pioneers group to assist in developing robust systems that can ensure smooth delivery when the Green Deal goes live. It's vital that we get the finer detail of the Green Deal right in order to deliver warmer homes for our customers while simultaneously tackling fuel poverty and carbon reduction.”

Paul Yiannouzis, Partner, Empower Community said: “A high proportion of green house gas emissions originate from inefficient building stock. Empower Community believes that the Green Deal will facilitate implementation of energy efficient measure in the domestic and commercial building stock. Empower Community is looking forward to work with the Government and other providers to assist in setting up, implementing and delivering Green Deal measures.”