The government's green deal

[graduate_owner]

Hi everyone,
This has nothing to do with woodworking etc but, does anyone have experience of the green deal? We had an unsolicited telephone call a few days ago telling us about the savings we could make to our fuel bills and how the costs would be paid by these savings via the bills. However we need to have an assessor out to visit the house and see where insulation improvements could be made. This sounds to me like a bit of a joke - I'm sure I can measure the depth of loft insulation, and I can also tell single glazing from double. I appreciate that the scheme needs 'policing' so that false claims can be prevented, but this firm wanted me to pay £400 for the assessment. Some on the web are offering the assessment for less than £100, but the tele sales person warned us that "some firms are only in it for themselves, and don't do a proper job". Yeah, right!!.

So, what I would like to know is, does the scheme offer true savings or is it just an extended loan from the government? If the insulation contractors spent say £5000 on the necessary work, would I end up paying back (a) £5000 (b) less than that because of government grants (c) more than that because of interest on the loan?

I do need to replace my ageing oil boiler, but I can do the plumbing for that myself and get a local plumber to commission it for about £120. I could also search the web for the best deal on a boiler, rather than pay what an approved contractor wants, plus his labour fees, then the beloved VAT on top. So I'm wondering if I'd be better off going my own way.

Any advice?

K

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Maybe I'm unduly cynical, but I can't help feeling that when gummint offers large amounts of taxpayers' cash for schemes such as this, it acts as a honey-pot for all sorts of cowboys and semi-scamsters to buzz around.

I'd also be very suspicious of cold-callers offering you something for £400. What are they going to do for that? Ask you if you've got double glazing, cavity wall insulation, loft insulation and a modern boiler, then write out a fancy report telling you what you already know?

Edit to add - I've not done this, but I'm fairly sure that if you googled 'Green Deal' you'd find a government website setting out what's available and how to claim if you're eligable. I reckon you'd learn a lot more from that than from anybody charging 400 notes.

 

[finneyb]

'Only 132 signed up to Green Deal programme ' - so others must have your concerns
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-23766117

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) said that just one person had reached the "live" stage of the programme so far.
That means they have had the work completed, and are making repayments under it.

You need to find that wo/man

HTH

Brian

 

[RogerS]

Brian beat me to it. The whole scheme sounds a dud.

K when/if you do replace the boiler you might like to think about an external one...we did this and the space it freed up enabled us to shift the downstairs loo and washbasin to where the old boiler used to be. Then we enlarged the utility room to take over the original space that the loo etc took. Plus you don't get any smell inside the house.

 

[graduate_owner]

Thanks to all for the replies. It seems like others share my suspicions. It looks as though I won't be getting my share of the £xx,000,000 on offer, and saving money into the bargain.

K

 

[finneyb]

K when/if you do replace the boiler you might like to think about an external one....

Roger,

Can you explain more?
Oil or gas
Is the boiler exposed to the weather?
etc

Brian

 

[RogerS]

I use a Warmflow boiler



It's oil fired. I've fitted two ...one combi and one normal.

It's called a KabinPak or something like that

 

[finneyb]

Roger,

Thanks for that - I like the idea, but we are gas.
By the way when you can't find your blue handled screwdriver, it's by the boiler

Brian

 

[RogerS]

Ah, fair enough. Don't get a Baxi though as it seems to have more than its fair share of problems over on AskTheTrades

 

[graduate_owner]

Externally fitted boilers look like a brilliant idea, especially with oil because they can smell a bit sometimes. There's also the saving of space in the house, but they are a bit dearer than interior ones. They seem to go for about £1300 on the web.

K

 

[cambournepete]

I'd avoid potterton boilers as well - lots in the new village where I lived near Cambridge had circuit board failures.

The government here in NZ has been running an insulation subsidy scheme, but it's generally significantly cheaper to not bother and find your own tradesmen outside the scheme...

 

[mind_the_goat]

Scam No one charges for quote find you own local professional and ask them about Green Deal, or just check out the direct.gov website as someone else suggested.

 

[woodshavings]

Go to the CAB's website: www.adviceguide.org.uk and enter green deal in the search box. This will tell you all about it.
HTH, John

 

[loftyhermes]

Loads of info on Which's website.
http://search.which.co.uk/search?w=gree ... GNH-Search