MSE News: Last chance to apply for Warm Front energy scheme

Former_MSE_Jamie

"Vulnerable households in England have just a few days to apply for help to insulate their homes..."

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Last chance to apply for Warm Front energy scheme

Oranda

Had an email from my mother earlier. She has been clearing her loft for the past two weeks in preparation for her insulation install tomorrow.

She says "Just had a phone call from Warm Front to say that from today all government funding is withdrawn for home insulation so my appointment is cancelled!!"

Is this true or a scam by the installers to pocket the money?

Be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar news recently.

aaroncaz

Well today had a call from EON. I applied for the Warm Front discount grant ... anyway he said I would get this grant and has arranged for someone to call me in the next couple of weeks to arrange an appointment for insulating my home....no mention was made of the scheme ending.

JAF78

Oranda wrote: »

Had an email from my mother earlier. She has been clearing her loft for the past two weeks in preparation for her insulation install tomorrow.

She says "Just had a phone call from Warm Front to say that from today all government funding is withdrawn for home insulation so my appointment is cancelled!!"

Is this true or a scam by the installers to pocket the money?

Be interested to hear if anyone else has had similar news recently.

Might be an idea to speak to Warmfront direct to confirm this, maybe the installer has used up their allocation of the budget. I'd be surprised if they are being fraudulent and claiming for work not completed though. Warmfront may allocate the job to someone else??

leestorm

Can you still get a grant if you receive Disability Living Allowance?
My house isnt mains gas and the LPG is costing over £2000 a year!

babsonline

I was allocated to have a replacement boiler fitted under this scheme. An appointment was made for an engineer to call one Thursday before Christmas. He didn't call, a further appointment was made for the following Thursday. He didn't call. By then it was Christmas, so I left it until after the holidays and rang the firm. They told me that the funding had run out and I would now have to wait for more funding from the government in 2 or 3 months. I presume they mean April, but I am keeping my fingers crossed that they get back to me when new funds become available.:D

lazyoldbag

Having had personal experience of this scheme I would ask anyone considering having a boiler installed to consider the matter very carefully before using them. Yes, people on disability living allowance do still qualify. The amount a reasonable boiler costs is approximately £800.00 plus installation. The ones offered under the scheme are the cheaper end of the market and the companies Warmfront farm out the work to are not always of a very good standard leaving you with virtually no recourse to get things put right. Trading Standards don't want to know because you didn't pay for it. The two years warranty are not worth the paper they are written on. My boiler was installed incorrectly initially, then supposed to be put right, the gas pressure was incorrect for the whole of the two years as they failed to update the supply, they flooded my living room carpet and broke my bathroom radiator. They left me with no heating and hot water over six weeks last Christmas while they argued and the only reason it got fixed was because we discovered the Minister with responsibility for Warmfronts personal email address! I eventually gave up, employed a private plumber to put their work right and had a bill for £650.00. So, you have been warned, nothing in life is free and if you pay peanuts you will get a team of monkeys. Good luck.

invincibill

Have to agree totally with the above,the grant just isnt worth it,I had to battle for years to get warm front on board,only an intervention by sir Peter Tapsall got things moving.How I wish I hadn,t bothered the times the boiler broke down is unbelievable I think they must send us rejects,they made my living room unusable [ripped out my previous fireplace leaving a draughty hole,]I could go on but I would just advise STAY WELL AWAY! It will end up costing you many thousands!

Waterlily24

We haven't had any trouble at all with our Warm front installation. The only trouble we had was that we thought they were supposed to do an annual inspection but this didn't happen. After two years we contacted them and they said because it was oil they didn't do the checks now. I have to say also that the installers were ace but my hubby did a lot to help them. eg fitted all the radiators.

Louise15

Warm Front will close this Saturday 19th January, no execptions, if you haven't applied by then, you won't get any help.

Loft and cavity wall insulation grants finished 4th January when the funding was pulled, anyone who has an appointment booked for a survey or the work to be done will NOT now get it for free.

A new scheme called the Green Deal will be launched end of January for insulation, solar, heat pumps, solid wall insulation etc, these will be funded as a loan to be paid back through your electricity meter.

I work for a local authority and already getting complaints as the agencies running these scheme are telling everyone to ring their local council, the council can't help as they with utility companies put money into these schemes run by outside agencies.
The scheme was always due to finish this month but no one was given a date till after it happened

nelliekins

This time last year I applied for a warmfront grant for my mother. We did all the leg work (I even posted on here for help). After the initial 10 week wait, we waited another 8 weeks for an appointment and no one turned up. I complained several times and then after another 4 weeks someone came to do an inspection on the house.

Warmfront knew what my mother had not had heating or hot water in her house for approximatly 18 months and that the whole boiler and rads needed replacing for a working, energy efficient system. She is a pensioner (also receiving pension credit), with no other income and is living alone. Despite this the "surveyor" they sent told my mother it would cost more like £8000 (he was clearly off his rocker) and didn't even complete the energy efficiency survey. He told my mum they would only replce like for like and because of this she would have to have another system like the one that was fitted to the house in the 60's.

Needless to say, they told us "there is nothing we can do madame as those are the rules". Despite our persistence, they just stopped answering the phone and I got several hang ups, excuses like "we're moving offices so we don't have your file", "we're moving offices so I can't get your details on the screen", "we're moving offices so we can't schedule any appointments" in addition to people just laughing down the phone at me.

We lost my father in February 2012 and as the situation was so dire we had no choice but to take out a crisis loan from the council. This means that my mother will have to pay back the money when she sells her house (which due to the housing situation there is no chance of her doing).

These grants may very well be available, but I certainly wasn't able to get any money out of them.

Good luck!