Official Free Boilers and Insulation guide discussion

Boiler_Grants

Although grants for a new boiler are paid for via funding from the major energy companies there are many installers who will carry out the work you don't need to go directly to one of the big six energy companies. It's worth noting that in most cases now you'll have to make a contribution to the install and 100% free boilers are few and far between now.
Generally if your gas boiler is over 8 years old, your total household income is less than £16,010 and you or someone in your house receives a qualifying benefit then it's worth applying.

You'll probably get a speedier response by using one of the specialist online services who have access to multiple providers. boilergrants co uk get very good reviews but the scheme is due to end in less than 10 months and the government has yet to announce any replacement.

Blue_Max

Boiler_Grants wrote: »

You'll probably get a speedier response by using one of the specialist online services who have access to multiple providers. boilergrants co uk get very good reviews but the scheme is due to end in less than 10 months and the government has yet to announce any replacement.

Unfortunately boilergrants co uk can not help with flats.
Their website said "We have no installers available for your property type".
I have heard that not many installers are interested in flats.
Does anyone know of any reputable installers who would be interested in flats?!

sshariff

I applied for a boiler replacement through ECO (someone in my household qualified) around one and a half months ago. Applied to British gas and NPower at around the same time with a view to choosing the one that was more suitable.

British gas were the first ones to give me a quote after the general and technical surveys were done. They quoted me a Vaillant Eco Tec Heat only boiler (direct replacement of my existing one) along with a charge of £760! The technical surveyor stated that my house qualified for a £2700 grant under the scheme and that British gas will not be paying them a penny as they will be keeping all of the grant. The extra £760 was towards their charges. This sounded quite ridiculous as a boiler install should not be that much in total (2700 + 760). I called British gas who won't even accept that this charge is unreasonable. In addition the technical surveyor said that they need the pipework from the meter to the boiler replaced from 22mm to 28mm along with floor boards removed which again did not seem right as my old 25 year old boiler was managing to heat the property well using the existing 22mm pipework from the meter.

After around a couple of weeks I had the NPower technical surveyor assessing the property and he too said a straight boiler like for like replacement (heat only boiler) was the most appropriate. Also the pipework was fine. And the best thing was that everything would be absolutely free!

So I now have a free Baxi Eco Blue advance boiler installed today and it works absolutely fine. I look forward to my bills going down considering that I went from an F rated boiler to an A rated one.

One thing that I would like to mention - The Baxi Eco Advance boiler normally comes with a 7 year warranty; however if installed as part of the ECO scheme the manufacturer only offers a 2 year warranty! Don't understand the reasoning behind this, perhaps NPower is getting the boilers for a further discount from them.

For those who have been asked to make ridiculous contributions - please shop around with other providers as well. It worked in my case.

Excellent service from Npower. I believe British gas tend to be arrogant as most people by default contact them first (like I did) and therefore tend to finish their quota earlier than the other providers.

Blue_Max

The Which? magazine by the Consumer's Association have been doing surveys of gas boilers for six years.
The latest report was in October 2015. Nearly 11,000 members and 110 heating engineers from the "Which? Trusted Traders" took part.

Reliability record varied from 47% for Baxi to 75% for Vaillant and 79% for Worcester-Bosch.
After a period of six years, on average, 56% of boilers are fault free.
Impressive 63% if you have a Worcester-Bosch boiler. Baxi at the bottom with 45% after 6 years.

£210 is the average cost of boiler repair, according to their survey.
The usual warranty by manufacturers is 5 years or more.
But under the ECO scheme it is only 2 years.
So it is important to fit one of the best boiler brands and not to settle for anything that they fit.
Which? report can be read at local libraries. Well worth a read.
I also took photocopies for reference.

If an application is made through one of the big six energy suppliers, none of their installers would fit Worcester-Bosch.
Installers in the British Gas ECO Boiler Scheme can fit Vaillant, the second best.

If you phone, some of the tacticts used by the energy suppliers is to tell you:
1. This is free scheme. You can't pick and choose a boiler.
2. You need to have the survey done by us.
Only then you will be told which make of boiler will be installed.

However, there are dozens of other companies on the net who fit boilers under the ECO scheme.
Some of them can fit Worcester-Bosch or Vaillant.

So it is worth looking around.
I found three . But since I do have any experience with them, I can not make any recommendations.

Does anyone have a Worcester-Bosch or Vaillant fitted under the ECO scheme?!

Please share your experiences.

Ken68

New Vaillant supplied and fitted free last October, applied for it 5 years ago, went via three firms until SSE came through. Not sure I still qualified after such a long time, but they accepted original application.
No problems with the boiler, though only 2 years warranty subject to boiler service within a year.
Green Place rings a bell as the brokers and surveyors and fitters were a firm from Birmingham.(B'ham to King's Lynn twice)
Not entirely trouble free with delays etc, but no problems otherwise.
The electrician was a separate guy who explained the workings and signed the job off.

Ken68

Initial contact was with SSE (my energy supplier) then One Green Place who organised the survey.


http://1boilergrant.co.uk/eco-boiler-grants/

Teresa60

I had a call today about being eligible for a free boiler from a company called Consumer Energy Solutions, has anyone heard of them please? I cant find a website, the only one I found was a company in Florida. I am in receipt of tax credits and earn under the £16,000 to qualify. They have made an appointment to see me on 14th June but after reading all the comments on here and on Facebook I am having second thoughts. Im thinking of just not answering the door if and when they turn up and hope they will just go away!! Any advice please?

hoggydoggy

Its interesting to see people's experiences of some of these offers and the conditions attaching to them. I thought I might share our experience below,

We are British Gas customers, who have a service agreement in place, for BG to look at our boiler, radiators, pipework etc.; they come periodically to inspect our boiler (a 20-year old Worcester-Bosch, that’s needed one or two minor repairs in recent years but which works as well as it ever did), and they generally give it a clean bill of health, with some longstanding caveats about ventilation and efficiency.

A couple of weeks ago, the BG engineer came & did his normal job & then proceeded to tell us we were eligible for a brand-new boiler – apparently the age and efficiency of our boiler (circa 65%) were criteria enough for us to qualify, with the only caveat being that we’d have to pay for installation. At his suggestion, therefore, we agreed for an inspection last week, to provide a quote for installation – a sales rep arrived last week, initially under the impression that he was being sent to try to sell us some hardware! We pointed out that, no, we only wanted an installation quote under the terms of the boiler replacement scheme we’d been tipped-off to – so, once we’d got over his disappointment at what he felt was a wasted trip on his part, he proceeded to tell us that installation of a new boiler in our loft (to replace the old Worcester) would set us back £2,000!

We’ve basically laughed this figure off – by just a basic initial reckoning, we can buy & install elsewhere for cheaper- but have they told us the right things? That is,

1) Were we eligible in the first place? We don’t receive Income Support/ Income Related Employment and Support Allowance/ Child Tax Credit/Working Tax Credit/Universal Credit etc., so it seemed surprising to be eligible on age of boiler alone
2) £2,000 for a simple installation? This seems more than a bit excessive!

Other experiences/comments/feedback would be welcomed!

Blue_Max

Teresa60 wrote: »

I had a call today about being eligible for a free boiler from a company called Consumer Energy Solutions, has anyone heard of them please? I cant find a website, the only one I found was a company in Florida. I am in receipt of tax credits and earn under the £16,000 to qualify. They have made an appointment to see me on 14th June but after reading all the comments on here and on Facebook I am having second thoughts. Im thinking of just not answering the door if and when they turn up and hope they will just go away!! Any advice please?

Companies House Data at companieshousedata website show

CONSUMER ENERGY SOLUTIONS LIMITED is a Private Limited Company incorporated on the 19/01/2016 and has the Company Number: 09959339.

Company Address
22 PENDERYN CLOSE
PENDERYN CLOSE
MERTHYR TYDFIL
MID GLAMORGAN
UNITED KINGDOM
CF48 1AS

Incorportation Date: 19/01/2016

A good starting point would be
Energy Saving Trust
0300 123 1234 9am - 8pm Monday to Friday
They will ask a few questions and If you qualify, they will contact one of the companies on their list.

Blue_Max

hoggydoggy wrote: »

Its interesting to see people's experiences of some of these offers and the conditions attaching to them. I thought I might share our experience below,

We are British Gas customers, who have a service agreement in place, for BG to look at our boiler, radiators, pipework etc.; they come periodically to inspect our boiler (a 20-year old Worcester-Bosch, that’s needed one or two minor repairs in recent years but which works as well as it ever did), and they generally give it a clean bill of health, with some longstanding caveats about ventilation and efficiency.

A couple of weeks ago, the BG engineer came & did his normal job & then proceeded to tell us we were eligible for a brand-new boiler – apparently the age and efficiency of our boiler (circa 65%) were criteria enough for us to qualify, with the only caveat being that we’d have to pay for installation. At his suggestion, therefore, we agreed for an inspection last week, to provide a quote for installation – a sales rep arrived last week, initially under the impression that he was being sent to try to sell us some hardware! We pointed out that, no, we only wanted an installation quote under the terms of the boiler replacement scheme we’d been tipped-off to – so, once we’d got over his disappointment at what he felt was a wasted trip on his part, he proceeded to tell us that installation of a new boiler in our loft (to replace the old Worcester) would set us back £2,000!

We’ve basically laughed this figure off – by just a basic initial reckoning, we can buy & install elsewhere for cheaper- but have they told us the right things? That is,

1) Were we eligible in the first place? We don’t receive Income Support/ Income Related Employment and Support Allowance/ Child Tax Credit/Working Tax Credit/Universal Credit etc., so it seemed surprising to be eligible on age of boiler alone
2) £2,000 for a simple installation? This seems more than a bit excessive!

Other experiences/comments/feedback would be welcomed!

There are dozens of companies who have jumped on the ECO Scheme band wagon.
They get paid for the two visits and the reports they prepare; no matter if they get the order or not. So they are too keen to get an appointment fixed and happy to travel 60 miles or more if necessary.
There are big variations in the quality and reliablity of the make and model of the boiler they choose to fit, the quotations given, guarantee period, pre and after sales service that they provide.
Some of them have been known to talk to you as if they are some sort of a charity.

Deal with them, same as you would as a consumer, shopping around for a product or a service.