Warm Front Grant saved me a fortune!

Diotima

First post here, so hello :-)

I've retired recently, and just discovered I'm probably eligible for a Warm Front grant. There's no central heating in this house, my ex-husband took out the oil system on my GP's advice because it was making me ill even though it was working properly. Unfortunately that's when we split up, so it was never replaced.

On reading this thread, I've only seen gas and oil boilers mentioned; does anyone know if I'd get a grant for electric underfloor heating if an assessor recommended it, or is it only conventional condensing boilers and radiators that are approved under the scheme? There's a mention on the EAGA site that alternative technologies could be approved, although UFH is hardly an alternative technology. There's no gas in this village, and I can't go back to the chest and sinus infections I had with oil; I'd rather pay for electric UFH than do that.

Is there somewhere I can download a list of approved installers? I've Googled for it and couldn't find anything.

Any advice would really be appreciated - TIA.

catford

catford wrote: »

We qualify for the full oil central heating grant and had the engineer round about 6 wks ago to look at the work.I was surprised when he said that Kershaws take 30% of the grant to handle the allocation,and disturbed when he said that we would have to pay to remove any excavated material from the site as it's not covered by the grant. Has anyone on this site had a full oil installation??and what choices do you get with types of boiler/radiators etc.
And do you really have to pay to have the left over stuff removed??;) Surely the grant should cover that?
And with the amount of time Kershaws have taken to "do the paperwork"they don't seem very efficient.

Well, when the final cost came back it was £6215 and the grant award was £4000. We couldn't find the extra cash and my local council don't do any top up scheme so I told warm front.They,oddly enough, could /would not give a breakdown of the price so I could maybe do some work myself, and they cancelled the installation for me.
Eventually I got a loan and re-applied but it's the same hassle:mad:-- dragging on and on.
The surveys done but no-one will tell me what the final cost will be- I phone warm front regularly,and they are nice people :Dbut never get anything sorted and it's costing us a bomb because the solid fuel boiler is completely not working this year and we are using electric heaters.which ain't cheap!!!:eek:
It's wrong not to be able to get a straight answer and having no-one effective to complain to. Has anyone got any idea who I can contact to get some positive action:D.
Martin--how about a warm front and installer efficiency thread??:rotfl:

Lady_K

Well looks like you are going to be paying about twice as much as warmfront are towards your heating and there is a lot of unanswered questions that you have the right to know. I remember when I was waiting for it to be installed and I read on here I think that the installers have up to 10 or 12 weeks from coming to do a quote to installing it but things do slip with warmfront it seems.

I rang myself and they just say they have to wait till the installer gets back to them. I would ask to speak to someone higher than the person just taking general calls at warmfront, I found that a lot of them are young girls and they don't really know that much apart from appointments but when it comes to things like you want to know they can't answer you. If you push you could get to talk to someone, a head of department or manager, I did a few times and I didn't have to pay towards mine. If you are paying that much money towards it you certainly have the right to know exactly what you are paying for. If they don't help why don't you try your local councilor. You could try asking kershaws roughly the stage its at with them but they were always rude and just couldnt be bothered when I did. You could try asking them for a breakdown of the quote too, you never know they may do it.

Have you had an independant quote to compare it with?

Lady_K

My first year service should have been carried out on or before 10th December, I rang 8 weeks ago to book it for 6th Dec. At the time I asked if I would recieve conformation of the appointment and a rough idea of the time. She told me the engineer would call me early on the 6th to let me know. Anyway no one rang and no one turned up, I rang to ask what had happened and she said oh its been cancelled last week yet I had not been informed. I wonder if I hadn't rang maybe they wouldnt have come at all. She gave me another date 11th Dec which just goes outside the first year that I'm supposed to have it done so I hope when it gets to next year they won't say I already had a service within the 2nd year period.

If I had been elderly and not thought to ring it could have been left as they hadnt wrote to inform me or contacted me

luv_my_brass

I am only in receipt of the State Pension, but I do have savings. And wonder if I am elegible for a grant to increase the amount of lagging in the loft as it is only the basic depth and my loft is very cold. The loft door does not fit as well as it could and the landing and stairway is quite cool despite having a radiator on the landing.
Advice please.

catford

Lady_K wrote: »

Well looks like you are going to be paying about twice as much as warmfront are towards your heating and there is a lot of unanswered questions that you have the right to know. I remember when I was waiting for it to be installed and I read on here I think that the installers have up to 10 or 12 weeks from coming to do a quote to installing it but things do slip with warmfront it seems.

I rang myself and they just say they have to wait till the installer gets back to them. I would ask to speak to someone higher than the person just taking general calls at warmfront, I found that a lot of them are young girls and they don't really know that much apart from appointments but when it comes to things like you want to know they can't answer you. If you push you could get to talk to someone, a head of department or manager, I did a few times and I didn't have to pay towards mine. If you are paying that much money towards it you certainly have the right to know exactly what you are paying for. If they don't help why don't you try your local councilor. You could try asking kershaws roughly the stage its at with them but they were always rude and just couldnt be bothered when I did. You could try asking them for a breakdown of the quote too, you never know they may do it.

Have you had an independant quote to compare it with?

My job is not with Kershaws anymore.I told warmfront that I couldn't raise the extra money and the original installation was cancelled. Having gone into debt to get the money we are now in the situation where a new installer has been to assess the work and we are waiting for them and warmfront to stop passing the buck and get it together and tell us the amount of any excess.:eek:
The whole system seems to be a total shambles but thats the norm lately. There's no accountability when taxpayers money is being wasted,and no shortage of government bodies and private companies willing to help do it---rant!!
I don't think an independant quote would make any difference--the fact remains that my grant will be £4000 and I must pay the rest.

ParadiseKidd

I am waiting for an assessor to come round this month and wondered how long it usually takes to get central heating fitted?
I'm really concerned because I am pregnant and due in August but our property has no upstairs heating and is SUPER cold - even with the so-called 2 gas fires on full blast downstairs we can't get the front room temperature above 13 or 15 degrees in dry weather and 10 or 12 in wet weather! The upstairs is consistently between 5-8 degrees whilst the bathroom has no loft (therefore no insulation) and the shampoo freezes! All our pots in the kitchen are covered in condensation, papers left out get damp, the oil separates and coffee/tea/gravy/milkshake powder is ruined in days.
The house is long-term low rent private housing for 'local people' in a lovely area and we agreed to update the inside of the house due to low rent and the 'forever' rent agreement at this low amount (we figured we'd easily make the money we spent on the house back due to saved money on rent) - before my partner lost his job and we cant update any more! Now we are stuck with this agreement in a house we don't want to leave (we have fitted kitchen, re-decorated etc.) but equally cannot bring a baby up in it. Central Heating and cavity wall insulation would sort us out and the property would be more than livable once warm - but will it be in in time? And if not, what on earth do we do? Where do we stand with temporary rehousing if its not in?
We just can't afford to put in central heating ourselves

manda1205

Paradisekidd - I had a surveyor come round last July. I've still not heard anything, rang warmfront before xmas and they told me they would chase it, but still nothing. So unfortunately you may not get done by August. Our upstairs has no heating, and we use those stand alone electric convector heaters, with my DDs on low all night it will maintain her room at 15c. So maybe you could invest in one of those for your baby? Ours were only about £20 each. Also you could get plenty of blankets and a sleeping bag for baby, they were brilliant for our DD as she couldnt kick them off and so kept warm.

ParadiseKidd

Thanks Manda - we do have an electric heater in our bedroom but hardly ever have it one because our electric bill goes through the roof! If its not sorted then we will have to do that I think, it is just worrying for me because I have to sit in the house in my ski jacket so it seems like a tiny baby would have no chance! My major concern are things like bathing and changing the baby, because I can't have the electric heaters on all over the house - I am scared enough about not being able to look after the baby properly! I am thinking of going to the Citzens Advice and getting them to help me out, along with the local council - the council have already declared the property unfit for habitation before and council housing is minimal in our area so they might have some power to hurry things along to avoid rehousing us. Hopefully if I make enough noise they'll want me to go away...

manda1205

Paradisekidd - When we lived in our old house, we had majorly rotten windows(a hole thorugh to outside in DDs room ), mould and saturating damp and also a plant growing in the living room(through the wall), I went to the council and they checked over the house then sent a letter to our landlord detailing important work to be done, and a time scale to do it by. Im sure they may help you hurry things along. Worth a shot anyway. But Id still try not to worry so much bout the baby. My mum and dad had no heating with us 27 years ago and my mum said we were all fine, she just used to wrap us up well and when bathed ect she used to take us into the living room infront of the fire whilst dressing. Im sure you'll all be fine.