The Government has just announced that the boiler scrappage scheme, written about in this blog a number of times (see Boiler Scrappage Scheme and Boiler Scrappage Scheme Gains Momentum), is now a reality with firms like British Gas and Baxi wading in with their support.

Now some observers have pointed out that as a new boiler, installed, can cost between £2,000 and £3,000 in total, many might regard the grant as a little miserly. Also, there’s a bit of red tape involved as well. You can’t pop down the council and ask for 400 notes, then promise you’ll have a new boiler as soon as you can get down to B&Q.

There’s a system to follow and its starts by getting an official quote from a heating engineer who’s on the current Gas Safe Register. Because, everyone should remember that only someone on the current Gas Safe Register can work on gas appliances. This is not a DIY job. And the quote has to detail the cost of replacing a Band G boiler, or equivalent, with a Band A boiler. The bands are organised in the SEDBUK (Seasonal Efficiency of Domestic Boilers in the UK) rating scheme and Band G might have been used in the Titanic. A good way to tell quickly if you have an old boiler, is to see if it has a permanent pilot ignition, is it a back boiler, or was it installed before the legislation in 2005 which insisted on only modern, condensing boilers being installed?

The Heating and Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) reckon that there are still over four million Band G boilers in use in Britain today and they operate only at 70% efficiency, whereas Band A deliver 90% plus efficiency.

Right, once you have a pucker quote you contact the Energy Saving Trust (EST) and, if you qualify, they issue a £400 voucher which lasts for 12 weeks. Once you have paid for the finished installation of your new boiler, you send off the installer’s invoice and the voucher, and the EST send you £400 back. It’s on a first come, first served basis, so don’t hang about.

British Gas, who are never slow on the uptake, have quite cleverly matched the Government’s £400 with £400 of their own, meaning that you lop £800 off your installation bill – a somewhat more meaningful amount.

British Gas has the clout of course, installing around 120,000 new boilers in Britain every year.

The CEO of British Gas owner Centrica, Sam Laidlaw, said:
“If the UK is to meet its tough carbon reduction targets, it is vital that old, inefficient energy technologies are replaced. The Government’s boiler scrappage scheme is, therefore, a very welcome initiative; it will assist the replacement of the country’s four million inefficient domestic boilers with new boilers, which can improve energy efficiency by up to 30% – an important step towards lowering carbon emissions.”

His words were followed up by Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas, who said:
“We want to help customers take advantage of the new boiler scrappage scheme, so we’re offering to match the Government’s £400 allowance, which means customers can cut a total of £800 from the cost of a new boiler from British Gas. As the country’s leading installer of energy efficient boilers, we know that new boilers help lower fuel bills by as much as £235 a year.”

Baxi also welcomed the scheme, with their CEO, Mark Kelly, saying:
“The boiler scrappage scheme gives a real opportunity for households to upgrade their current boiler to the most efficient available. Whilst considerably lowering the carbon footprint of each household it will also save families over £200 per year in fuel costs.

“Baxi is pleased with the timing of this announcement as we have just launched a high efficiency version of the old Baxi Bermuda back boiler, which is one of the G band boilers. Previously, a replacement meant re-siting the boiler, re-routing all the pipe work and redecorating; the new high efficiency model is a genuine, simple replacement which fits into the same place with minimum disruption.”

Guest Article by Neil Camp

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