Boiler scrappage scheme should be re-introduced

(23/06/2010)

Just three months after the Government’s boiler scrappage scheme was introduced, all 125,000 vouchers have been snapped up, causing the scheme to close. The Government gave householders £400 towards upgrading their old G rated boiler, for a new efficient A rated boiler.

Richard Clarke, chairman of 1st Action plumbing believes that the speed in which all 125,000 vouchers were handed out shows the inadequacy of the scheme: “The boiler scrappage scheme has so many long-term benefits for consumers and also for the environment in the sense that a more efficient boiler uses less fuel. The new A rated boilers should burn at least 25 per cent less fuel than the older G rated type and produce improved emissions figures as the fuel is burned more efficiently. The fact that the scheme has now closed just three months after it was introduced is a sign that it should be extended.

Before the scheme was introduced there were around three and a half million homes in England with the very least efficient type of boiler (G-rated or worse). This shows that the 125,000 vouchers have hardly scratched the surface, and we as a company are still receiving many enquiries.

The UK has one of the most ambitious CO2 emission reduction targets in the world. The installation of an efficient heating system is an effective way of reducing household energy bills and CO2 emissions, as domestic heating accounts for 14 per cent of the UK's CO2 emissions. The calculated energy savings of 125,000 homes being switched to an A rated boiler is in the region of 140,000t CO2 per year - equivalent to taking 45,000 cars off the road.

Savings figures given for an average family house when switching to a more efficient boiler vary from £235 per year to £285 per year, which would make a huge difference. We’d like to see the scheme re-introduced to account for the rest of the population with an inefficient boiler as we still have a long way to go.”

Related categories:  Boilers - Domestic   Energy Conservation   Residential applications