Andrew Cooper - learning from local authority leadership

GEN - There has been a lot of interest in Kirklees as an area where retrofitting households has made a big difference, what are the essential elements to your approach that have proved so successful?

AC- There are a number of elements which made the Kirklees Warm Zone free insulation scheme a success. Principally we made a decision through the budget process to make the scheme free to all regardless of income. Money is a barrier to installation whether people have the money or not. If we regard climate change as a real threat then getting as much insulation into as many properties as quickly as possible has to be a priority. It makes financial sense to install insulation for free. Money which would have gone to energy companies is spent locally and as energy prices inevitably go up so does the value of that saved energy. The tender price we achieved was competitive and that was as much about the attractiveness of the offer as it was the value of the contract. There is less management and hassle (and therefore cost) involved with a free scheme. We have developed the knowledge and capacity to deliver energy efficiency and microgeneration programmes in the Council over a number of years built on strong political support. As a Green Party Councillor I think it’s fair to say we have played our hand well in gaining commitment and resources to make many of these schemes happen in a Council that has been hung since 2000. It is no coincidence that Kirklees has been such a leader in the energy field at a time the Green Party have had significant influence.

GEN - Is the Kirklees model suited to different sizes of local authorities?

Kirklees is quite a large Council, we have a population of over 400,000 and are ranked as the 11^th largest local authority in the UK so we are a good example for the delivery of mass energy efficiency programmes. The larger the scheme the better in many ways. This allows companies to take the rough with the smooth between high income and low income areas, rural and urban. This gives a good mix of CERT priority group and non priority group households helping the finance of the scheme overall stack up for both the Energy Companies and the Council. For smaller district authorities there may well be benefits of grouping together as is now being piloted in Hampshire.

GEN-  The public sector is facing huge cuts at the moment, what do you see as the big challenges and opportunities Councils have around green energy work?

AC- Capacity is an important issue. Staff cuts are limiting the ability of Councils to initiate, manage or deliver projects in many cases.  Centrally imposed constraints on capital expenditure and the increased cost of prudential borrowing are further disincentives for local government projects. A number of Area Based Insulation projects which would have got off the blocks by now under a different finance regime from central government have stalled.

The big opportunity is utilising the Feed-in-Tariff for mass installations of Solar PV on public buildings and on Council houses, but often long procurement timelines and poor information on best finance options seem to be slowing up to a snails pace the take up of such schemes. The ‘Rent-A-Roof’ PV models can offer anything from nil FiT return to quite modest sums with the bulk of the income going to the company installing the kit for the Council. Finance lease options for the installation of PV can offer better returns, but the best option is the Council using its own prudential borrowing powers to finance installations.

There is also a large ‘wait and see’ approach because of the impending Green Deal. Some area based projects which might take 3 years or so to complete are not commencing because we don’t really know what the new financial landscape for energy efficiency and microgeneration schemes will be like come Autumn 2012. This coupled with caps on the amount of Feed-in-Tariff that can be released is further stifling new project development. Fortune does favour the bold at the moment particularly with PV projects but bold councils are about as common as chickens teeth in the current environment.

GEN- The Green Deal has the opportunity to bring household energy efficiency and renewables retrofitting work together in a single package, do you think it will work?

AC- Not as currently trailed. It is simply not compelling enough an offer to say we will carry out these measures to your property and you won’t lose out. The savings on the bills are supposed to cover the loans which is of course OK, but unlikely to stimulate a mass take up of things such as solid wall insulation. Savings indicated by Green Deal Assessors will not be guaranteed and you can already see the first articles being written in newspapers regarding people believing they’ve been mis-sold the Green Deal.  It will also be interesting to see what the figures look like for providing the finance for cheap measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation. I guess my fundamental objection to the Green Deal is that it doesn’t really convey any sense of urgency on the part of government. Already we are seeing a realisation by government that Green Deal on its own may not be enough to stimulate demand and a recent report by the Cabinet Office entitled ‘Behaviour Change and Energy Use has the following statement,

"we also recognise that households may need additional prompts and encouragement in order to overcome their natural inertia".

It then goes on to reveal trials which include incentives such as B&Q and Homebase vouchers and loft clearance services etc. I just wonder how much money is going to be required to make the Green Deal work. A turkey will fly if you put enough energy behind it.

The alternative would be a large scale insulation based programme, door to door, ward by ward, council by council aiming to insulate every house within 5 years through a free scheme like the one we did in Kirklees. Saving carbon quickly has to be the name of the game and this has to be quicker and more dynamic than what could be a rather ponderous Green Deal programme. Similarly with solar PV a Feed-in-Tariff unmolested by government could result in millions of installations delivered by area based programmes. Feed In Tariffs that are well supported by government will deliver a mass market Germany has proved that. Our Solar PV industry is a mere fraction of that of Germany.

About Andrew Cooper

Andrew Cooper has worked in the housing and energy sector since 1993 when he became Kirklees Council's first Energy Efficiency Coordinator, he went on to work for Calderdale Council introducing the UKs first universally free insulation for pensioners. He has since then worked on Regional Energy Policy for Yorkshire and Humber Assembly and has been Head of On Site Renewables for the Renewable Energy Association. Andrew is now Director of Advice and Policy at Yorkshire Energy Services where he manages the Energy Saving Trust advice centre for South and West Yorkshire.

Andrew was elected to Kirklees Council in May 1999 as a Green Party Councillor and has been re-elected three times in the Newsome Ward. He proposed the UK’s first universally free insulation scheme which will see over 50,000 Kirklees homes insulated by 2010. In 2000 he initiated the Council’s Renewable Energy Fund which has seen Kirklees become the leading authority in the deployment of microgeneration technologies with over 5% of the UK’s Solar Capacity in the borough. In 2008 Andrew successfully obtained funding for the Kirklees RE-Charge scheme which provides householders with renewable technology for their homes with no upfront costs or monthly payments. He was recognised in the Independent on Sundays list of the top 100 Environmentalists and was the only Councillor on the list.