MSE News: Npower to launch boiler scrappage scheme

can someone explain how this works?

do i need to be Npower customer?
can i source my own boiler etc or does it have to be from one of there specified installers? i.e one who will charge me £800 more than it would usually cost

Deals from these utilities companies are a sham. British Gas and others will charge you significantly more for a boiler than it should cost. Typically you could end up paying £3500 or more for a top of the range boiler. The scrappage scheme will get you back only a small fraction of the vast excess that you are already paying. Want to know how to do it properly?

Either get yourself a gas safe engineer you know and trust, or put an advert in for a boiler replacement (labour only) job on the rated people website ratedpeople.com . Put your max budget at £450 for a full boiler replacement and do not pay more than this. Next get yourself logged on the Mr central heating website (mrcentralheating.com) and choose the boiler you want. You can buy this as a boiler change pack (with the bits and pieces the engineer will need) or as a full central heating pack. I went for the first option.

I would advise that you first do a bit of research like I did and pick a reliable model or the best one to suit your budget. I went for the reliable model tested and recommended by Which magazine ( a Vaillant pro-model) at £1055 but you can also get a top of the range Worcester Bosch for a little bit extra. In the end the entire job cost me only £1500 in total and we are delighted with the new boiler. I'm pretty sure the same job would have cost double with British Gas since a friend of mine paid them almost £4000 for a Worcester Bosch.

Alternatively, if you are too lazy to buy one and to organise getting a quote from rated people, you could go to frasc who will supply and fit although the prices they show on the website do not include timer and flue so you will end up paying more. google for frasc.info and you should find the site.

Expert money saving advice courtesy of Arctic Chimp.

I hear Trotters Independent Trading Co. are offering £1000 scrappage on new gas boilers.

No fancy eligibility requirements - everyone qualifies!

Ask nicely and they might have one of those special scratch cards left that could entitle the lucky holder up to an additional monkey off the price.

My boiler is over 10 yrs old but not a G rate, does this still apply?

peter_the_piper wrote: »

My boiler is over 10 yrs old but not a G rate, does this still apply?

Probably not mate. It looks good on paper but imo it's just a paper exercise. My boiler is about 15 years old but only rated an 'E' rating according to the sedbuk website. I read about this incentive a few weeks back as the energy saving trust has a scheme offering interest free loans for boilers and full new systems. After spending half an hour of my life on the phone I discovered I wasn't elegible because of my boiler (why didn't they ask me straight away grrrrr:mad::mad::mad:)

There's very few boilers rated 'G' so it's all smoke and mirrors. I've written to someone up here from the Scottish parliment but surprise surprise havent heard back.