Help needed please!

pspiller · 4 October 2013 at 9:25AM

It has been a while since I have used these forums but you have been invaluable to me before, I now need the advice of the many again.

Since the "Warm front" scheme has ended I am looking for something similar. I currently have NO central heating in my house (mortgaged) live with my partner and 2 children under 5, currently receiveing child tax credits and working tax credits as we are a low income family (under 16k pa) our only source of heat is an electric fire downstairs (next to useless on really cold days) and an economy 7 heater upstairs which is 19p per hour to run at night (ridiculous) and why its upstairs I dont know because it only manages to heat the hallway because heat rises so we dont bother turning it on! We have bought two plug in electric heaters so dont panic we wont freeze it would just be nice to have central heating so we could stay comfortable and warm and be able to dry clothes etc.

The "Green Deal" costs £99 for a survey and the lady I spoke to said "you are unlikely to get any help anyway because you have the economy 7 heater" Not exactly what I wanted to hear because we dont even use the thing! I need to know what I can do is there any grants, funds available that dont require me shelling out £100 for possibly no reason at all? I thankyou for your anticipated help

Paul

savemoney · 4 October 2013 at 9:29AM

Might be worth checking to see if your eligible for this

https://www.gov.uk/energy-company-obligation

pspiller · 4 October 2013 at 9:34AM

Thanks,

I have looked at that but it doesnt mention central heating anywhere, just boiler installation or loft insulation, neither of which I need, once I fill in the form it says "I may be eligible for certain things if I get a survey done" think I may be buying warmer clothes again :-)

ollski · 4 October 2013 at 10:45AM

When I pass on an affordable warmth job on at work, as far as I know, they simply receive a call back to check eligability and then get an assesor to check and do the paperwork. Never heard of a charge unless that's taken from a successful application.

macman · 4 October 2013 at 11:49AM

Why are you on an E7 tariff if you only have one NSH (unused) and 3 convectors? It doesn't make sense, because all your consumption is on a higher rate than a single rate tariff.
An E7 NSH running on night rate does not cost 19p, it costs around 4p.
The Green Deal is a loan, not a grant-do you really want to saddle yourself with a 10 year debt?

pspiller · 4 October 2013 at 11:55AM

macman - what does NSH mean?
I dont know if I am on an economy 7 tariff, I had an energy monitor thing plugged in which told me my consumption and as soon as the heater came on it went to 19p and my bills sky rocketed!
I dont really want the green deal, I want to know if there is anything out there like the warm front scheme and yes at the moment a 10 year debt for warmth sounds like a great idea....

pspiller · 4 October 2013 at 11:56AM

ollski wrote: »

When I pass on an affordable warmth job on at work, as far as I know, they simply receive a call back to check eligability and then get an assesor to check and do the paperwork. Never heard of a charge unless that's taken from a successful application.

Can you explain a bit further? What is an "affordable warmth" job? Something I could look into?

undaunted · 4 October 2013 at 1:04PM

A few sites that may be of help

http://www.affordablewarmthgrants.co.uk/heating-grants/info-central-heating-grants

http://www.heatinggrants.co.uk/?gclid=CPzOiv6d_bkCFSpJ2wodgXwAMA

http://free-boilers.org.uk/

macman · 4 October 2013 at 4:13PM

pspiller wrote: »

macman - what does NSH mean?
I dont know if I am on an economy 7 tariff, I had an energy monitor thing plugged in which told me my consumption and as soon as the heater came on it went to 19p and my bills sky rocketed!
I dont really want the green deal, I want to know if there is anything out there like the warm front scheme and yes at the moment a 10 year debt for warmth sounds like a great idea....

Night Storage Heater.
On E7 or not? Look at your bill and at your meter (dual register or single?). It's clearly shown what tariff you are on, and if E7 your bill will show the consumption on each register (day and night rate).
That's because you didn't have the monitor programmed to show the correct unit rate...
You really need to get to grips with understanding what system you already have, and what it costs. Without that, you can't hope to control your costs.

sazzle2 · 8 October 2013 at 6:42AM

i live with my little girl who is now six, house is rented and moved in to it in jan 2013 with no central heating system, not even a boiler. I'm self employed with a low income and receive tax credits. I did keep us warm with the gas fire and small convector heaters. its an brick built cottage (no cav wall). landlord would have put central heating in but obviously rent would have gone up as its a major cost. he found a company called dyson energy on the internet who have info on their site about the eco affordable warmth scheme which has replaced the warmfront grant that ended jan 2013. on their site it shows the criteria needed. my landlord rang them mid sept 2013, they did a survey a week later taking photos of the house inside and out, photos of my tax credits/child tax credits, tenancy agreement, then a week later sent out a chap to do a full survey with plan of where rads/boiler would go. Got a phone call 3 days later from dyson to say they have full funding and will order the parts can they start monday 30th sept. i said yes of course, i asked if there is definitely no contribution to the costs from either me or landlord, they said no it has been fully funded. they came monday & tuesday and installed a full central heating system with combi boiler and radiators. wednesday an electrician came to do the electrics (earthing etc) and fit wireless thermostat. I asked who had funded it and was told scottish power! it seems to be a bit of a postcode lottery as to which energy provider will fund the whole job if any! I have gas/elec from british gas and they wouldnt help at all, only offering cavity wall and loft insulation or replacement boiler. There are no cav walls, the loft was done 2011 and i had no boiler so BG didnt help.
i cant post the link to dyson energy but google it, they are in bradford.

just to say energy companies are supposed to be seen to be helping homes/people in a bid to reduce the carbon footprint or else be fined, so i think the more money an energy supplier gives the less likely they are to be fined.

although they put a rad in the wrong place which is a pain, they were extremely good. the whole job apparently cost around 4.5k

good luck to you by the way we live in derbyshire

matelodave · 8 October 2013 at 8:13AM

Now you've got central heating, make sure you keep on top of your bills - read the meter at least monthly (weekly is better) and send a monthly reading to your suppliers, Make sure that your bills accurately reflect your consumption and make sure that any estimates are corrected promptly as you wont know yet how much it's going to cost you and you don't want to ramp up arrears.