"Our clients are the ones paying our salaries – so how do they see us?  Terry Wardle takes a look at how the work of Green Deal Advisers
is being reviewed in the media." -->  A good blog (eventhough he describes me as "probably.... the client from hell"!

An interesting quote from a journalist on allowing a Green Deal Advisor in her home: 

‘A complete stranger is in my house asking me intimate details about my family’s showering and cooking habits and how many times we use the washing machine. She has even made a rough sketch of our bedroom. Pointing a laser beam at each external wall to gauge room dimensions, she casually asks if I put lids on the saucepans when I boil my vegetables. Who is this nosy individual I have let into my home?’

I don't touch much on the intrusion part in my blog below, as I had expected such occupant questions, but the above quote made me realise that it will take many people by surprise indeed and not all may feel comfortable about it or wonder why an assessor needs to know this.

Terry also wrote a blog on the role of Green Deal Assessors - still pretty much up to date. As per Linn Rafferty's comment: "Assessor is the term used by the GD Oversight and registration body (GD-ORB, run by Gemserv) to mean the organisation providing the GD Advice Service (GDAS). Advisor is the human being who passed the GDA qualification, and actually visits the customer and provides the assessment and advice. So your visit was delivered by an Advisor working with an Assessor."

On another note, I received (in my spam folder) an email from the BRE asking for feedback on the EPC assessment as this is registered with them. The survey asked a handful of general questions about the Adviser's conduct (did they show their badge upon entering; did they gain access everywhere etc). Ofcourse this separate email about the EPC feedback is likely to confuse the occupant who gets the EPC as a by-product of the Green Deal Assessment. I have relayed this feedback to the BRE.

Today I received this comment from Katherine. I have posted it in its entirety. This is indeed worrying. 

"Hi Sofie,
I work for an installer - and I just thought to add a little from our side of things may be informative (though not actually helpful!). We have houses ready for funding, but no providers want to give full funding. We specifically targeted areas that were ECO eligible - you can look up the eligible areas, then search your postcode to see if it is in a "vulnerable" area. This should achieve 100% funding for Solid Wall Insulation - as it is by definition a "hard to treat" measure. However, when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the providers are constantly changing the goal posts. We are now told a property needs to be solid fuel AND solid wall - and even then may not achieve full funding. Personally, I can not see the point of ECO if they are not intending to use it for its purposes - to help the vulnerable insulate their homes. They are trying to "force" people into having Green Deal finance to top up the ECO grants. There is no mention of fuel types determining the eligibility for ECO, it just ticks more boxes and gives a bigger saving than a house on mains gas - but this is not why ECO was set up. Sorry, now I'm just rambling. Back to my point, even now, the providers are reluctant to give us even an idea of funding - so we are left not really knowing what to tell people, other than be patient, we are trying to get them the best deal we can. But I think you may have more luck with a smaller, local installer that has access to funding via providers. Though as you say, there is no easy way to find these. Very best of luck to you though."

Added 4pm 15/04: 

It appears that providers are trying to look for the 'lowest hanging ECO fruits', i.e. the interventions giving the greatest carbon reductions for least amount of effort/money, which is indeed the Solid Walled (SW) and solid fuelled dwellings (and where many properties in one go can be treated). However, it is problematic if this is at the expense of ECO-funding properties that are SW and in vulnerable areas, simply because they are not solid fuelled. This will presumably cut out much or all of greater London properties, despite 30% being classified as SW properties, due to the smoke control zone and lack of solid fuelled properties,...Equally individual dwellings may not be able to access ECO-funding for several months or years until the low-hanging fruits are harvested first. 

It seems that individual householders may find it difficult - or impossible to access ECO funding, despite 'in theory' their properties qualifying. Unable to get access to the top-up funding required to undertake solid wall insulation to meet the Green Deal's Golden Rule, presumably means that they cannot undertake this Green Deal measure unless they are able to afford the difference. If this is the way things are going; ECO-funding might have been mis-advertised and householders might have been deceived.

So, about one month on from sending out 40 queries to providers, I still have not received any finance plan; I have no idea what the costs would be for the approved Green Deal measures, nor what (if any) ECO funding is available, nor what cash-back incentive may apply - let alone have I had any measures installed. This is somewhat frustrating - to say the least. 

I do wonder whether less engaged and motivated occupants may give up at this stage; the hassle factor is significantly increased having had an assessment done and then not being able to obtain any other information  or having works done. If I had paid for the assessment and then being unable to proceed or knowing when I might be able to follow up on its recommendations, I would have felt I just wasted the assessment fee. 

Admittedly this lack of progress does not exactly instill confidence in the whole Green Deal process. A brief update below:

• From 2 potentially positive responses, I have only heard from the installer and they had to apologise to say that the funders they go through do not have everything in place yet and they will get back to me ASAP.
• I have not yet heard from the only provider who gave me a positive response saying they would contact me after Easter for a survey. I have contacted them again by email to enquire.
• I have not yet heard an update from any of the other providers (6) who said they are not yet ready or able to do a Green Deal Plan but expect to be in April/May. I don't think this is a fault of their own -  this delay appears partly caused by software not being launched on time and due to the complexities and bureaucracy of the scheme. One wonders why Green Deal assessments were kicked off to begin with as it loses momentum for householders having decided to undertake works and being unable to proceed under the Green Deal.
• I have received no response from about 18 contacted providers (45% of total number of providers contacted)
• One provider still insists that "as part of our procedure we do require that you complete our application forms" because they did not undertake the Green Deal Assessment, which is a big hassle as I do not understand why I have to give the same information twice - but simply on a different form. Surely it defeats the purpose of having Green Deal approved assessors undertake the works?
• I have however been contacted by Parity Projects and there may be the opportunity to work them as a pilot study with a Co-op Model as part of their 'Green Deal Conduit' , which sounds promising.

A few other things to update on/clarify, thanks to twitter and LinkedIn discussions and people leaving comments:

• The actual fee paid to the Green Deal assessor will be < £250 as there are other in-between organisations and activities involved such as marketing and lodgement of the scheme which would have to come from the £250 per assessment. In fact, the actual assessor's fee may be unsustainably low (well under £100) for the amount of work involved.
• I am told that the EPC does take into account orientation of the house for solar panel installation.(I am still baffled why it came up as a (non-funded) appropriate measure for my property but I guess this may be down to software limitations)
• In-Use factors are applied in Green Deal Occupancy Assessment, not in the EPC.
• Green Deal predicted savings are based on "RdSAP, in-use factors, actual occupancy and actual bills.", according to Linn Rafferty
  
• The use of 1 RDSap point as a minimum requirement for Green deal 'approved' measure "is applied in an EPC, but in Green Deal, measures are presented to the Advisor whenever they might be appropriate, regardless of the size of the resulting SAP improvement", again according to Linn Rafferty
  
• "A customer can even choose to include in their eventual Green Deal Plan measures that don't save a lot of money. The need to meet the golden rule doesn't prevent the less cost effective measures being included, it only limits the amount that may be borrowed for them." See Linn Rafferty's blog on this.
  
• A list of Green Deal installers here (Thank you John!)