A new service offering loans to householders looking to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects is set to launch within the next few months.
The service, believed to be the first of its kind in the UK, will provide "competitive" loans to householders that want to green their homes and take advantage of
renewable energy incentives but lack the spare cash to invest upfront in technologies such as solar panels and heat pumps.
ReEnergise Finance Ltd, the company launching the service, will also offer domestic customers loans for
energy efficiency improvements, such as replacing old gas boilers and installing new windows.
Adam Hewson, director of ReEnergise Finance and a financial expert who has spent many years working in the City, said the company would fill a gap the traditional lending market was not currently addressing.
"The domestic market is a huge opportunity to finance, but the lending is not there," he said, adding that householders in their 30s and 50s were currently being squeezed out of the green makeover investment market because they weren’t "cash-rich".
Commercial brokerReEnergise Finance, which already offers a brokerage service for businesses looking to bankroll
renewable energy technologies and
energy efficiency improvements, is one of nearly two-dozen companies and organisations that earlier this month signed up to become the first
Green Deal providers. The Green Deal is the Government’s flagship green policy launcing in October that will allow homeowners and businesses to pay for energy efficiency improvements at no upfront cost.
"We will be launching in the summer so we can dovetail into the Green Deal when it launches in the autumn," said Hewson.
ReEnergise is still finalising its consumer credit offering, but has the facility to finance projects up to £100,000 on its own, said Hewson. The company, meanwhile, is in talks with "a number of capital providers" to partner with its on its domestic offering, he said.
ReEnergise already works with asset
finance companies to provide commercial loans ranging between £75,000 and £5 million.
However, Hewson said the company at this stage had no plans to become a member of the
Green Deal Finance Company (GDFC), a mutual that includes some of the big banks and blue chip firms such as British Gas and B&Q. The GDFC has launched with the stated mission to bring down the cost of borrowing for homeowners taking out Green Deal plans.
Hewson would not disclose the interest rates ReEnergise would be charging on its loans to householders, but insisted they would be "competitive".
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