With a poor response to the government’s Green Deal, OFTEC has written to Secretary of State for Energy, Ed Davey, to propose the introduction of a boiler scrappage scheme to encourage more people to make the switch to high efficiency condensing boilers.

In his letter, OFTEC chairman Martyn Bridges calls on the government to recognise that there are millions of households still use aging, inefficient non-condensing boilers (both gas and oil fired), and says that a simple scrappage scheme would help money-strapped consumers upgrade and save up to around 20% on fuel costs while also reducing CO2 emissions.

The letter describes the Green Deal as having a very disappointing take up so far due to the complexity of the scheme, high interest rates and the difficulty in the installer being able to access the scheme. Last month DECC figures showed households applying for assessments under the scheme fell by 21%.

Instead, the letter praises the Northern Ireland Assembly which introduced a boiler scrappage scheme offering a £1,000 subsidy towards the purchase of a condensing boiler. This has resulted in more than 10,000 additional boilers being installed since April last year.

Martyn Bridges said:

Green Deal has failed to make the intended impact on reducing CO2 emissions due to low take up and regrettably we anticipate the government’s much publicised domestic RHI scheme may well suffer the same fate,

A simple boiler scrappage scheme, such as the one successfully running in Northern Ireland, would do so much more to encourage people to upgrade their boilers and take their first, manageable steps towards a more fuel efficient future.

Recently updated figures announced by the Energy Saving Trust on 3 February show that upgrading to a more efficient boiler will save significantly more on bills and CO2 than previously thought.