End of CERT and CESP

Last week saw the end of the CERT and CESP programmes - now it's over to the Green Deal and the Energy Companies Obligation.

So was it all worth it?

Well, on one level a certain amount of energy efficiency implementation took place which might not otherwise have happened. And in the case of the priority group, and latterly the super priority group, those measures almost certainly would not have appeared. So the programmes get a tick on that count.

One wonders, though, just how much the energy companies spent in finding their targets and in managing the whole process. Certainly, I've heard tell of horror stories of mismanagement and bungling. And the feast and famine scenarios experienced by some trade groups - the insulation industry in particular - must have added inefficiency (as in transaction) costs to the whole affair.

What still amazes me is the level of unawareness of the way the schemes were funded. When I told friends and acquaintances that the money came from their fuel bills and that the only way to recoup it was by taking up various offers then there was action. Prior to that knowledge there seemed to be almost universal indifference. Did somebody in "Marketing" miss a trick?

I fear that the same problem is facing the Green Deal - probably in spades. It just doesn't seem to be gaining any traction.