The Government has revealed details of the £14 billion Green Deal scheme and is calling for feedback from industry and the public on the measures.
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne unveiled the government's Green Deal plans to provide loans to help property owners install energy efficient measures.

The Green Deal scheme, a major component of the Energy Act, is designed to kick start £14bn investment over the next decade, and is expected to support at least 65,000 insulation and construction jobs by 2015.

The emissions-cutting policy includes £1.3bn a year of additional help from energy companies for vulnerable and hard-to-insulate homes, with the overall average household energy bill in 2020 estimated at being 7 per cent, or £94, lower than without energy and climate polices.

The Green Deal framework will be launched from October 2012.

The consultation asks for feedback on three main areas of policy:

· Packages of energy saving technologies will be available to all British homes with no upfront cost - this would include things such as insulation, with repayments made over time out of the energy savings.

· Energy companies will be required to provide £1.3bn a year - to ensure everyone is able to benefit from the Green Deal no matter their income or the type of house they live in. Additional help will be available to ensure that the fuel poor can get better boilers and fix draughty homes, while subsidy will also be provided to help tackle homes that are hard to insulate - including solid wall homes.

· The Green Deal is expected to bring in around £14 billion of private sector investment over the next decade - with new safeguards to help small family firms as well as big high street names become involved. The Green Deal could support at least 65,000 insulation and construction jobs by 2015.

Up to £150 in cash back could be available for homes taking out a Green Deal - to be funded through private sector Green Deal finance - as part of efforts to make the Green Deal as attractive as possible.

MrHuhne said: 'The Green Deal is about putting energy consumers back in control of their bills and banishing Britain's draughty homes to the history books. By stimulating billions of pounds of private sector investment, the Green Deal will revolutionise the way that we keep our homes warm, making them cosier, more efficient - and all at no upfront cost.'

He added: 'There are certainly costs to replacing our ageing energy infrastructure with modern, clean power stations, and we take very seriously any impact of our policies on what consumers and businesses pay. We've repeatedly taken steps to reduce this - by removing some planned levies on bills and making others more cost effective and within budget. But a crucial - and too often ignored - priority of our whole strategy is to reduce the amount of energy we use in our homes.'

By the end of 2011 it is estimated that household electricity prices will have increased by around 16% and household gas prices by 25 per cent since the start of the year, due mostly to global fossil fuel prices. Over the past year alone the global gas price increased by nearly 40 per cent.

Government policies currently account for around 7% of an average household energy bill, accounting for the efficiency savings policies already delivered, the average household energy bill in 2011 is only 2 per cent higher than it would have been if these policies were never introduced.

Also included in the announcement from Mr Huhne were new Government policies to help the most vulnerable in society, including the Warm Home Discount and the Energy Company Obligation announced today.

Analysis of the estimated impacts of energy policies was also published for the Estimated impact on household energy bills in 2020 and the Estimated impact on energy bills compared with bills in the absence of policies

The future for British business

The analysis also covers the impact of policies on prices and bills for businesses as energy and climate change policies affect businesses differently to households.

Energy and climate change policies affect businesses differently to households. Businesses are not supported by the same range of energy efficiency policies, and not many of them are able to make significant savings due to the nature of the industrial processes involved. Their energy prices are also on average lower than household energy prices with many paying closer to wholesale energy prices and so a given unit cost will result in a higher percentage increase in bills. These factors combine to mean energy and climate change policies are expected to, on average, add to business energy bills.

The Government says that while it is important that businesses play their part in the transition to a low-carbon economy, it is equally important they remain competitive and that the UK remains an attractive location for them. So in order to incentivise companies staying in Britain the Government has also said that before the end of the year it to announce a package of measures for those energy intensive industries for which the impact of Government policies on the cost of electricity will put their international competitiveness most at risk.