Failed £240million household energy-saving scheme cost taxpayers £17,000 per loan
Ministers were “wildly optimistic” in predicting how many people would get home improvement loans
A FAILED £240 million household energy-saving scheme was “not fit for purpose” and put taxpayers’ cash at risk, a damning report argues today.
Ministers were “wildly optimistic” in their predictions for how many people would get home improvement loans under the Green Deal, the powerful Commons Public Accounts committee said.
But take-up was “woefully low” as just 14,000 homes signed up – costing taxpayers £17,000 each.
Ministers are also failing to monitor a separate eco scheme known as the Energy Company Obligation, the MPs said.
It raised the Government has pressed ahead with green pet projects no matter what the cost.
Committee member and Labour MP Caroline Flint blasted: “This paints the picture of a Government hell-bent on implementing a policy regardless of whether it represented value for taxpayers’ money.”
RELATED STORIES
Committee chairman Meg Hillier added: “There is no doubt householders and taxpayers in general have been ill-served by these schemes and the Government must learn from its mistakes to ensure they are not repeated in this or indeed any other policy areas.”
The Green Deal was meant to offer families cheap loans to install things like insulation to make homes warmer.
But the report found the “overly complex” scheme was “not adequately tested”, not enough work was done to see if families wanted it, and offered loans that were more expensive than market rates.
It meant ministers expected a massive £1.1 billion in loans to be made – when just £50 million was handed out, just five per cent of the forecast figure.
Ms Hillier added: “This blinkered approach resulted in a truly dismal take-up for Green Deal loans and a cost to taxpayers of £17,000 for every loan arranged.”
It came as a second report from Whitehall’s spending watchdog warned cancelling a £1 billion competition to develop technology to capture and store carbon emissions could push up the costs of meeting climate targets.