New Government insulation proposals

[Bayliss]

A couple of months back I heard that the Government was introducing a new policy that would assist people with a financial package toward home insulation. The proposal is that involvement of the energy suppliers would be heavily involved in the scheme. I am unable to find the links that give further details. I have looked at warmfront scheme but am sure its not that one. Anyone have details please.

 

[JohnB]

The Green Deal. You can download the government's proposals here, plus Friends of the Earth's comments, and I may add other documents that might be useful.

It's going through parliament at the moment, but I haven't really been keeping track of progress, as it's the final result that's important.

 

[Penners]

We had our loft insulated under the Warm Front scheme, last year. It wasn't free, but it was a very good deal.

You could, of course, wait to see whether any improved scheme is introduced, but knowing how slowly the wheels of officialdom can grind, I wonder how much heat you'll be losing while you wait (and how much cheaper the new scheme will have to be in order for the cost of that heat to be recouped).

 

[JohnB]

The idea is that you get a loan to do the insulation, so there's no up front cost, then repay the loan over a number of years as part of your energy bills. These will be lower than they would otherwise be due to the insulation, and it's calculated so the overall cost is less than if you did nothing. The loan stays with the house if you sell. So in theory you get a well insulated house at no cost, and may even save money. From memory, I think it starts in 2012.

There's supposed to be provision for the hard to deal with houses, which will cover most PPUKers.

That's the theory, anyway!

 

[Penners]

Well, I can only say that sounds nowhere near as good a deal as we got under Warm Front, John! So if anyone needs insulation, they might like to get in touch with their Warm Front contractor as soon as possible, in the hope of getting it done before the scheme is dropped.

*Update* I've just looked at the WF website, and it seems that the full budget has spent for the current year. So you'll have to wait until the 1st April, when new applications will be accepted. Meanwhile, you may like to look at the eligibility rules:

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/BenefitsTaxCreditsAndOtherSupport/On_a_low_income/DG_10018661?CID=MTB&PLA=warmfront&CRE=lowincome

 

[skier-hughes]

I'm not sure there will be any new grants from 1st April.

 

[Penners]

You may be right, Graham, but it has to be worth applying on the 1st April, in case.

 

[JohnB]

Well, I can only say that sounds nowhere near as good a deal as we got under Warm Front, John!

It's intended to finance the big stuff, like external insulation, that costs serious money. It's assumed that the cheap and easy jobs, like a bit of extra loft insulation, has mostly already been done.

 

[Penners]

It's assumed that the cheap and easy jobs, like a bit of extra loft insulation, has mostly already been done.

A big assumption, in my view.

 

[JohnB]

It's assumed that the cheap and easy jobs, like a bit of extra loft insulation, has mostly already been done.

A big assumption, in my view.

If you study the tables in the document, I think you'll see they expect the number of installations to be falling over time, either because most of it is done, or the houses left have owners who like complaining about being in poverty because of huge energy bills!

 

[Bayliss]

Thank you for the links and comments, our cottage is extremely poorly insulated at the moment. We have lived in it for almost eight years and love the life in our cottage, but it is very expensive to heat.
We will need external insulation to the walls, secondary glazing to windows, the current oil boiler assessed for efficiency.