Boiler manufacturer Baxi Group had added its substantial weight behind calls for a boiler scrappage scheme.

The Company’s CEO, Board of directors and many of its employees have signed the petition which is urging the Prime Minister to adopt a concept similar to the car scrappage scheme which has proved so successful for the automotive industry.

Mark Kelly, CEO of Baxi, said:
“There are approximately 16 million standard efficiency boilers operating in UK homes today. Of these, 4.2 million [according to HHIC] are SEDBUK band G boilers.

“Replacing these boilers with high efficiency boilers will help to reduce carbon emissions and annual fuel bills for homeowners. Any support that can be provided to accelerate the replacement of these older boilers would be of benefit to the homeowner and the wider economy.

“The construction industry has also been particularly badly hit in this recession and there have been many, many redundancies in manufacturing, distribution, builders and installation companies. This is a double whammy for the government as every redundancy could mean less tax collected and more benefits to pay out.

“This scheme would stimulate demand for gas boilers and help manufacturers, plumbers’ merchants and Gas Safe heating engineers. Millions of these old boilers could be replaced by modern boilers which are more than 90% efficient and, with proper controls on the system, annual savings of more than £200 could be saved on the household gas bill (according to the Energy Saving Trust).”

The brains behind the scheme is plumbers’ merchant Mick Williams, who has identified five main reasons why such an initiative should exist.
Firstly, the economic argument which states that for every household that changes from an old boiler, to a more efficient model, could be in line for savings of over £200 a year in energy bills.

Secondly, the environment argument, which states that replacing just some of the 4.5 million boilers that are less than 70% efficient, thousands of tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions can be saved every year.

Thirdly, and back to economics, the boiler scrappage scheme would support existing jobs for plumbers, builders and suppliers suffering from the recession, and create new green jobs and training places.

Fourthly, and still on economic arguments, British manufacturers would also benefit, since a high proportion of gas boilers are still made here in the UK.

Finally, an overall argument, is the boiler scrappage scheme would actually be far greener than its car equivalent, as building regulations say that by law, all new boilers fitted in homes have to be efficient condensing boilers (in other words, more efficient than the ones they replace).

Guest Article by Neil Camp