The 'Pay as you Save' scheme was unveiled by Ed Miliband in March, with loans expecting to commence in 2012. This allows home owners to install energy saving systems to their homes without the upfront costs. The loan is tied to the home and repaid over a number of years using the savings from the household energy bills. The scheme was targeted at domestic home owners and has been trialled in 500 homes so far.
It has now been announced that the coalition government is set to extend this domestic green retro-fitting scheme to over nearly 3 million business premises! This move could provide a huge boost for the £10bn commercial refit market, after the energy minister Greg Barker decided to extend the scheme to offices and other commercial buildings.
Approximately 2.8m businesses could benefit from the scheme, which would initially target heating and lighting systems for smaller firms.
The borrower would be able to spend the money on a number of energy-saving technologies. Solar Photovoltaic and Solar Thermal will be among the favourites, as well as solid wall insulation. Ground & Air Source Heat Pumps and Wind Turbines will also qualify.
The 'Pay as you Save' scheme is ideal for the newly released Feed-in Tariff and also bodes well for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which is due next year. The 'Pay as you Save' scheme is one of the first green labour policies to be endorsed in principle by the new coalition government.