The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) has extended the deadline for vouchers released under the first phase of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) to March 31 2015.
The original expiry date for the GDHIF vouchers released within a period of six weeks between June 9 and July 24 2014 allowed money to be reclaimed up to six months following the vouchers’ release. This has now been extended to allow around 3,900 homeowners more time to redeem the value of their vouchers.
Up to the end of December 2014, more than 11,000 vouchers had been paid and 13,613 measures installed through GDHIF, with œ54.3m claimed of the original œ120m fund.
Ed Davey, secretary of state for energy and climate change, said:
“The Green Deal Home Improvement Fund has been going like hotcakes – winter can be a difficult time to get installations done so by giving more time to voucher holders they can join over one million homes already benefitting from a warmer, cheaper winter thanks to our energy efficiency schemes.”
The extension is effective immediately and automatically applies to eligible voucher holders – a new voucher will not be issued. To claim, homeowners should carry out the work and submit their voucher for redemption to the GDHIF scheme administrator by March 31 2015 – vouchers that have been extended will not be accepted after this time. All other terms and conditions for the first release of GDHIF continue to apply to customers and installers.
Those holding vouchers that were due to expire will receive confirmation that they are still eligible for GDHIF, although there is no need to wait for this as the extension is already in place. Any vouchers released in the first phase of the scheme that have already expired can also be processed again to claim their value.
Vouchers distributed as part of the GDHIF’s second phase, which opened to application on December 10 2014, will not be affected and will remain valid as per the original expiry date on the voucher. Therefore, those who have an expiry date on or after March 31 2015 will not receive an extension and should submit their claim as per the expiry date on the voucher.
Despite numerous assertions of another release of GDHIF funds due this month, DECC included in its latest announcement that further funding will be announced on a quarterly basis, with the next release and announcement expected as late as March 2015.
DECC added that registered installers and providers can help their customers by completing installations and handing the required documents over to the customer in time for them to submit their claim by the new deadline.
