JUST 18 households a week across South Hampshire showed an interest in a much-hyped Government scheme to cut energy bills.

Only 158 ‘Green Deal’ assessments – to decide whether to take out a loan to lag a loft, fill cavity walls or replace an old boiler – took place in two months.

Furthermore, the Government is unable to say whether any of those 159 households have actually signed up to the Green Deal.

Just 306 families have signed up across England.

Labour leapt on the statistics to claim its predictions that the scheme would flop – because of sky-high interest rates and frightening bureaucracy – had been proved correct.

Luciana Berger, the party’s energy spokeswoman, said “over 99 per cent” of people choosing an assessment were deciding not to go ahead with a Green Deal plan.

And she added: “The Green Deal was billed as the biggest home improvements programme since the Second World War, but the scheme is still struggling to get off the ground.

“It is not good enough for ministers to shrug their shoulders and dismiss this as a slow start – not when thousands in the insulation industry have lost their jobs.”

The scheme was launched in January, with the aim of attracting 10,000 households to sign up to energy-efficiency packages by the end of this year.

But, by the end of March, only 19 families in Southampton had arranged visits by experts.

The highest number was in the New Forest (31), followed by the Isle of Wight (27), Winchester (24), Basingstoke and Deane (16) and Eastleigh (14).