The new owners will continue to service existing Green Deal loans and will begin financing new ones by the end of March. A new management team has been assembled to run the company.

The Green Deal was launched by the government in 2013 to help improve the thermal efficiency of UK homes, which are amongst the most poorly insulated in Europe. The scheme effectively enabled customers to borrow money for energy efficiency improvements and then repay the loans using the savings from future energy bills. The loans are tied to the properties, meaning the payments are made by whoever is benefitting from the energy saving measures.

The Green Deal Finance Company was established as a not-for-profit company to support the Green Deal scheme by buying up loans from providers. It currently has a loan book worth more than £40 million. The company and the scheme were both suspended in 2015 after the government announced it was cutting off funding.  

Energy minister Jesse Norman commented: “People living in more energy efficient homes can have lower bills and warmer homes, while producing fewer carbon emissions, which is why the government has committed to improving the insulation of more than one million homes over this parliament. This deal will help us to reach that goal.”

Greenstone founder and chief executive Kilian Pender said: “We believe that the concept of repaying your loan as you save on your energy bills is an excellent one and with the significant private investment that we have secured, we’re looking forward to rolling the Green Deal finance scheme out across the country. We will provide homeowners a cost-effective way to improve their homes and quality of life.”

Tom Grimwood

This article first appeared in edie’s sister title, Utility Week

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