Builders Merchants Journal – BMJ Publishing to Builders Merchants and the UK merchanting industry for more than 95 years
Plumbers merchant chain Plumb Center has described parts of the Chancellor’s Comprehensive Spending Review as “a welcome and positive step in terms of the green agenda”.
Plumb Center managing director Keith Jones says that the spending review has put an end to months of speculation about cuts to renewables funding, with the commitment to introduce the Renewable Heat Incentive(RHI) from 2011 -2012 and the Green Deal from 2013.
George Osborne, Chancellor of the Exchequer has pledged £860 million funding for the RHI to drive a more-than-tenfold increase of renewable heat over the next 10 years, aiming to turn it from a fringe industry firmly into the mainstream.
The details of the RHI are being announced next month, but in the meantime, Jones says: “The industry has started to make real progress with renewable technologies and this funding will be the catalyst needed to take it to the next level.
“It is now more important than ever that businesses such as Plumb Center recognise that they have an essential role to play in supporting installers with the provision of energy saving technologies to homeowners.
“We are currently undertaking a programme to create a new generation of branches with training facilities and full working displays of renewable technologies showcasing the latest and most innovative products.”
The Chancellor also confirmed that the Department for Energy and Climate Change will work with the private sector, enabling households to improve the energy efficiency of their house at no upfront cost, repaying through the savings they make on their energy bills, through the Green Deal.
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