New Green Homes Grant to give up to £5,000 in vouchers for insulation and double-glazing

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Rev said:

So we don't have a list of approved installers yet?

According to the gov press release, they have to be listed on either trustmark or microgeneration certification scheme in order to be approved for green homes grant.  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/quality-assurance-at-heart-of-new-2-billion-green-homes-grants

A1ps

I have an issue in 2 of my rooms where in winter the rooms struggle to get up to the desired temperature. If I set the thermostat to 22/23 degrees the room just about gets to 20 if I leave the heating on all day. This is a nightmare for the other rooms! The radiators have been bled and checked so these aren't the issue.
The house was built in 2002 and was built by an absolute cowboy. I have a horrible feeling he hasn't insulated the house well. If I call one of the trusted companies on the site, would they come and check what the issue is?

mpet

I can see this whole scheme being a bit of a fiasco. I contacted 3 companies ‘nearest’ me ( one was over 60 miles away). One called me and said he had had over 200 requests for quotes over the last couple of days ‘as there were not many approved companies on the list in the south east’. 

Given we are only a couple of days into the list of companies being available and it has not been advertised much recently -wait until the floodgates open!  

A1ps

mpet said:

I can see this whole scheme being a bit of a fiasco. I contacted 3 companies ‘nearest’ me ( one was over 60 miles away). One called me and said he had had over 200 requests for quotes over the last couple of days ‘as there were not many approved companies on the list in the south east’. 

Given we are only a couple of days into the list of companies being available and it has not been advertised much recently -wait until the floodgates open!  

'tis the government way of doing things. Action first then think! 

PipersGirl

I had high hopes for the new scheme but those hopes have been well and truly dashed.  Living in a rural property with no access to the gas network and just 5 very old (circa 1980s) and inefficient storage heaters, current heating bills knocking on the door of £2K for a small 3 bed home.  Air source heat pump is the preferred route but at approx £21K+ to install the £5K grant barely touches the realms of affordability.  To rub salt in the wound the grant is then removed from the RHI grant so it makes not a jot of difference to the overall cost.  No wonder many rural properties are still installing oil systems or living in fuel poverty.

fabsaver

PipersGirl said:

I had high hopes for the new scheme but those hopes have been well and truly dashed.  Living in a rural property with no access to the gas network and just 5 very old (circa 1980s) and inefficient storage heaters, current heating bills knocking on the door of £2K for a small 3 bed home.  Air source heat pump is the preferred route but at approx £21K+ to install the £5K grant barely touches the realms of affordability.  To rub salt in the wound the grant is then removed from the RHI grant so it makes not a jot of difference to the overall cost.  No wonder many rural properties are still installing oil systems or living in fuel poverty.

I share your pain as I'm in a similar situation.

The heating system offered via this scheme is ASHP but there are only two registered installers within a 50 mile radius of me and quotes are more than double the indication on the GHG scheme website. The GHG grant seems completely useless anyway, when the value of it will be deducted from the RHI grant. 

As you say it looks like oil or expensive electric will continue to be the only viable options for rural areas. Even the government ECO boiler replacement schemes will only cover gas boilers and makes no allowance for those without gas.

Fletchasketch

Reading the latest weekly email, I'd definitely missed a key part of this. I thought I'd just be able to get some loft insulation and then qualify for replacement windows, but given that there's a cap on what you spend on your 'secondary improvement' which is equal to your spend on your 'primary improvement' then unless I go for some pricy wall insulation, there won't be any new windows for me  .

Puggie12

Good morning,
We were hoping to get some of our rather ancient double glazing replaced, but this doesn't look like an option!

The blurb mentions inefficient double glazed doors can be replaced, does anyone know if patio doors would be included? We have ancient aluminium/wood framed doors which are very drafty & on their last legs!!

quattros

Morning looking into this deal I am a homeowner but my mum is on PIP benefits and lives with me so I am assuming from their guidelines is that they would fund the energy improvements on my home for up to 10k , Not looked into to it in depth but the quick checker shows that we would be eligible. So will they fund the full amount in our case ?

PipersGirl

fabsaver said:

PipersGirl said:

I had high hopes for the new scheme but those hopes have been well and truly dashed.  Living in a rural property with no access to the gas network and just 5 very old (circa 1980s) and inefficient storage heaters, current heating bills knocking on the door of £2K for a small 3 bed home.  Air source heat pump is the preferred route but at approx £21K+ to install the £5K grant barely touches the realms of affordability.  To rub salt in the wound the grant is then removed from the RHI grant so it makes not a jot of difference to the overall cost.  No wonder many rural properties are still installing oil systems or living in fuel poverty.

I share your pain as I'm in a similar situation.

The heating system offered via this scheme is ASHP but there are only two registered installers within a 50 mile radius of me and quotes are more than double the indication on the GHG scheme website. The GHG grant seems completely useless anyway, when the value of it will be deducted from the RHI grant. 

As you say it looks like oil or expensive electric will continue to be the only viable options for rural areas. Even the government ECO boiler replacement schemes will only cover gas boilers and makes no allowance for those without gas.

fabsaver said:

PipersGirl said:

I had high hopes for the new scheme but those hopes have been well and truly dashed.  Living in a rural property with no access to the gas network and just 5 very old (circa 1980s) and inefficient storage heaters, current heating bills knocking on the door of £2K for a small 3 bed home.  Air source heat pump is the preferred route but at approx £21K+ to install the £5K grant barely touches the realms of affordability.  To rub salt in the wound the grant is then removed from the RHI grant so it makes not a jot of difference to the overall cost.  No wonder many rural properties are still installing oil systems or living in fuel poverty.

I share your pain as I'm in a similar situation.

The heating system offered via this scheme is ASHP but there are only two registered installers within a 50 mile radius of me and quotes are more than double the indication on the GHG scheme website. The GHG grant seems completely useless anyway, when the value of it will be deducted from the RHI grant. 

As you say it looks like oil or expensive electric will continue to be the only viable options for rural areas. Even the government ECO boiler replacement schemes will only cover gas boilers and makes no allowance for those without gas.

The grant makes the assumption that there is already a central heating installed with pipes and radiators present and is therefore just a replacement for the boiler.  In reality, many rural properties do not have even the basics of a heating system and for an ASHP to be efficient the radiators need to be bigger than a traditional system requires anyway.  To replace old storage heaters I need to install radiators, pipes and the ASHP.  Once that is installed my shower then needs replacing to be compatible with an ASHP rather than hot water tank, so this is a very costly job.  The grant is nowhere near adequate to help fossil fuel and electricity reliant rural communities.