Ed Miliband unveils loans scheme for green home improvements

Courtesy of guardian.co.uk

The energy and climate change secretary, Ed Miliband, will announce details of a "green loans" scheme today to help people pay for improvements to their homes to make them more energy efficient.

The scheme, which would see loans remain attached to the house where insulation, solar panels or other green technology was installed, aims to overcome the financial barriers and upfront costs people face when trying make their homes greener.

With the expense of green technology and people moving house on average every nine to 12 years, householders may not have a long enough period for paying back the loan before they move to ensure they save more on their bills than the cost of the repayments.

Around 500 homes in Birmingham, Sunderland, Stroud and the London borough of Sutton have been testing out a £4m pilot for the Pay As You Save programme.

In the pilot, homeowners are making repayments for the green technology over a long enough period so payments are lower than the predicted savings on energy bills, though the financial packages also include options in which they pay some of the upfront costs.

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ed miliband, green home