I agree Peter. It's a total con'.

The power companies were totally inept at running their insulation schemes, resented paying for them, didn't meet their required 'Energy Company Obligation' targets (particularly British Gas), and so have presumably done an under the table deal somewhere along the line so that the taxpayer funds the schemes instead. The government have then resorted to smoke and mirrors to in turn reduce their expenditure...once again screwing over dozens of companies who set themselves up to carry out the work, and putting (so they say) 10,000 qualified employees on the dole.

From start to finish, these schemes have been run by various quangos full of know-nothing pen-pushers, and merely confused the public with their constantly moving goal posts and unnecessary complexity.