The schemes might not be used by a big majority of householders, according to an industry expert.
The government's Heat and Energy Saving Strategy is likely to prove unpopular among gas and electricity customers in the UK, new analysis from green experts BritishEco.com suggested today.
Launched earlier this month by energy and climate change secretary Ed Miliband, the plan would see loans provided to householders in order to pay for the installation of energy-saving features such as loft insulation in participating homes. Figures cited by the government at the time suggested that inadequate energy efficiency is costing families upwards of £300 per year, due in part to higher heating bills.
The plan also ties in with ministers' pre-existing commitments to reduce national carbon emissions by 20 percent before 2020 and by 80 percent before 2050. Mr Miliband said that the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy would give seven million homes a "whole-house refurbishment", including extra insulation or new energy-generating technology, over the next eleven years.
However, Andrew Moore, managing director of BritishEco.com expressed scepticism that the scheme would work well. "I know they are talking about a loans scheme, which is a good way of helping people to do these kind of things, but it's just how many people are going to take that up at the end of the day," he said.
"Of course, with the financial system as it is at the moment, how you actually work that in terms of who you give to loans is actually very difficult. How they are going to work that scheme is a difficult one."
