Green Deal - Birmingham Energy Savers

Green Deal	We nominated some households for the Community Pilot phase of the Birmingham Energy Savers programme under the government's Green Deal project. My energy efficiency survey was at the end of February.  Having heard nothing for 3 weeks, I phoned the freephone contact number .  A helpful person at the call centre explained that households which had been surveyed but failed the "golden rule" had already been notified.  For the rest of us, they were waiting for "household survey" appointments to become available.  This is the second stage, when someone comes to assess whether your household income qualifies you for additional grants towards the cost of energy efficiency work.
"Golden Rule"	This is a calculation method which decides whether or not any specific energy efficiency task is worth spending the money.  That is, for an item such as loft insulation, there is a cost of doing the job.  If the likely savings on the fuel bill are big enough, compared with the cost of doing the work, it is counted as passing the golden rule.  If the fuel savings are small (this would be the case if you already have at least 4" of insulation) it may fail the "golden rule".  Subsidies and money from the energy supply companies are taken into account.
ECO	"Energy Companies Obligation" The energy supply companies (British Gas, E-on, nPower, etc) have an obligation to help their customers reduce energy consumption.  One estimate if that there is about one and a half billion pounds available under ECO.  That is why they were giving away low energy light bulbs a few years ago.  This money is said to be one of the subsidies available under the "golden rule" calculation.
Notes	We hear different versions about how the Birmingham Energy Savers scheme works. For more information, use the freephone service 0800 917 5772
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