Available Grants / Insentives

jlx45v

I have just purchased a house in rural Wales. It has a Rayburn (coal fired) that is either on or off. Temperature is either 600 degrees or Zero degrees. More often than not, dependant on the direction of the wind, the temperature on the Rayburn does not get hot enough to cook on, let alone anything else! And yes, it has been serviced, the flu swept, we have been shown how to light it (although that seems to be a bigger chore than the actual romance of having the thing)

The Rayburn is the only source of hot water (not even an immersion heater is installed on the tank), there is a radiator in the bathroom that will only work when the cooker goes beyond 400 degrees (pointless, as the bathroom is next to the kitchen, so when the Rayburn is hot - so is the bathroom!), and a radiator in the bedroom (the same bedroom that houses the hot water tank, so pointless really because the radiator only works when the Rayburn is on, as does the back boiler that heats the water in the tank).

The Rayburn has to be fed coal every hour (or less, dependant on the wind direction) to keep it alight, and I do not have the time to sit in the kitchen waiting to put the next bucket of coal on, to ensure there is heating in two rooms from about 4pm to 8am the following morning!

We have no mains gas to the property, and as you can imagine, our electricity usage is sky high!

I want to know why I am not entitled to any help whatsoever.

I have worked full time for the last 32 years, never claimed benefits or subsidies etc etc, however, because I do not claim I cannot get help. I cant begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see if I qualify for a grant (or any help) for a boiler or solar panels and to discover I am not because I am not on a low enough income to claim a benefit of some kind or another!

With just me earning I can pay the bills, mortgage, car expenses etc, but it leaves little or no spare cash to put toward updating the property.

The house is a Welsh longhouse, built circa 1800, in need of rewiring (amongst other things), the walls are about 3ft thick.


I am not really interested in 'free money' at the expense of the tax payer, but having been a tax payer for the last 32 years I hoped that I could at least get some sort of help!

Can anyone please tell me if I have got the whole thing wrong and I am, in fact, able to get help? Preferably before I freeze to death :rotfl:

bertiewhite

My house is similar and when I bought it I knew it wasn't going to be the most efficient but thought it would be worth it for the fabulous location and building character. Did you not consider these things when you were looking at the property?

jlx45v

Its not about the property, what it has and hasn't got, does or doesn't do. I wouldn't have brought it if I wanted all the mod cons!

What I am trying to say is that unless I claim a benefit of some sort I am not entitled to any energy saving help whatsoever! The government bang on about being green, saving energy, making your home more environmentally friendly, produce less carbon emissions etc etc. I have spent 32 years of my life paying taxes, never been unemployed, never claimed any benefits whatsoever, but in the grand scheme of things it appears that unless you claim some sort of benefit you are penalised for even considering wanting to utilise some of the hard earned taxes that you have paid.

I do not really appreciate the question 'did you not consider these things when you were looking at the property'. I was not asking for an opinion on my choice of house, and quite honestly in my opinion that's a completely irrelevant thing to say!

bertiewhite

Your opening post has come across that you have bought a house which you knew is inefficient & needed rewiring but now you want money to pay for renovations because you can't afford it.

jlx45v

Again, you have completely missed the point of the post. I really cant be bothered trying to explain again.

Martyn1981

jlx45v wrote: »

I have worked full time for the last 32 years, never claimed benefits or subsidies etc etc, however, because I do not claim I cannot get help. I cant begin to tell you how frustrating it is to see if I qualify for a grant (or any help) for a boiler or solar panels and to discover I am not because I am not on a low enough income to claim a benefit of some kind or another!

Can anyone please tell me if I have got the whole thing wrong and I am, in fact, able to get help? Preferably before I freeze to death :rotfl:

Hiya. The subsidy for PV (solar panels) isn't linked to income, so you could get them installed. The subsidy has been cut a bit too much, making it a bit tight, however, if you get an immersion fitted, or a new water tank and immersion, then you could also install a diverter (about £200) that sends spare leccy (excess) to the water tank. This would improve the returns quite a bit.

There is info in the PV FAQs. The cost will depend on the size of the install, but for about a 4kWp install expect to pay around £5k (with haggling) and generate about 3,200 - 4,000kWh pa depending on roof orientation (you can check this in sec 5 of the FAQs). Hot water from the PV/leccy in the BST months sounds like a necessity to avoid lighting the Rayburn.

I also believe there are some deals for EWI, though this will depend on any conservation rules, as I assume your walls are solid, no cavity. But this too is going to cost you £5k+.

You could also consider a small aircon unit, and use this as an ASHP to help warm your property when you don't won't/need the full Rayburn. This would probably cost about £1,200 but for early Spring and Autumn it might be an alternative especially during PV generation times.