Watford Borough Council signs up to Government’s Green Deal

3:11pm Tuesday 18th September 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Mike Wright, Chief Reporter

Businesses and homeowners in Watford will be able to have energy saving measures installed in their properties without upfront cost as part of a new scheme.

Watford Borough Council signed up yesterday to take part in the Government’s Green Deal, which is set to replace previous energy efficiency initiatives.

The scheme allows people to have work done without paying upfront and then paying off the cost in instalments through the utility bill.

However the council said the savings in energy bills will offset the payments for the works.

If the property is sold, because the payment is taken from the utility bill it is transferred to the new owner.

The scheme is due to start next month.

Elected Mayor of Watford, Dorothy Thornhill said: "Green Deal is a great opportunity for us to help residents and businesses benefit by making savings on their energy bills and reducing carbon emissions.

"A good example would be a new energy efficient boiler that could cost approximately £4,500. This would be expected to lower your heating bill with some of the savings going towards paying back the cost of the new boiler and the rest to reducing your overall bill."

Comments(6)

fugu says...
9:00am Wed 19 Sep 12

Utter Rubbish. Having a new high efficiency boiler fitted will cost about £1200 for a straight swap including power-flushing the system. Even changing from a conventional boiler with cold water tank and hot water cylinder to a combi boiler would be about £2500.

If you get quoted £4500 for anything less than replacing the boiler and all the radiators, and new thermostatic controls, fitting a new hot water cylinder, pump and separate zone valves and an updated programmer with remote thermostat, then you've been ripped off.

The Watford Observer should stop helping to perpetuate these myths.

By over-inflating the boiler fitting prices the payback time for a new boiler would exceed the life if the boiler.

Yes, I fit heating systems for a living. If you give me £4500 I'll fit 3 New boilers for you.

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Neil1234 says...
8:43am Thu 20 Sep 12

I think this shows an example of a worst case scenario - perhaps where an inefficienct storage heater system is being replaced by a central heating system. Also there is no mention as to the size of the house. Its much better to give a high example that demonstrates whats possible under the green deal rather than a cheaper quote that may not be the case. Its a positive thing if the average quote is lower than that quoted! If you search the council web site you can register your interest to become an installer under the scheme!

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fugu says...
11:47pm Thu 20 Sep 12

Storage heaters aren't inefficient and if used on a cheap overnight tariff they cost about the same to run as a modern condensing gas stem. If used with a green electricity supplier they can even be carbon neutral. Something a gas fired heating system will never be.

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greendeal says...
9:14pm Sun 23 Sep 12

Britain has some of the oldest building stock in Europe. Draughty homes are poorly insulated, leaking heat and using up energy. As consumers, we
pay a high price for inefficient housing.The Green Deal is a programme to bring our buildings up to date.

Under the Green Deal, bill payers will be able to get energy efficiency
improvements without having to front up the cash. Instead, businesses
will provide the capital, getting their money back via the energy bill. At
the heart of the offer is a simple rule: estimated savings on bills will
always equal or exceed the cost of the work.

Any questions on the Green Deal please let me know.

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Nick_Miles says...
2:47pm Tue 25 Sep 12

"At the heart of the offer is a simple rule: estimated savings on bills will
always equal or exceed the cost of the work." - This is not necessarily true. In practice we may see a high level of cases where the golden rule cannot be met. We won't fully know until we start seeing it in practice.

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Nick_Miles says...
3:08pm Tue 25 Sep 12

Sorry to clarify - For the Green Deal to take place, the golden rule has to be met, however there are situations when the government will help the poorest and most vulnerable in our society via something called the Energy Company Obligation (ECO). The two should be integrated behind the scenes so the end customer benefit either way. Hope this helps.

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