If your home is not properly insulated or your heating system is not as good as it should be, the Warm Front Scheme may be just what you need. With heating costs on the rise, it could save you a lot of money and at the same time give you a warmer home. And if you qualify for a grant, it might not cost you a penny.

What is Warm Front?

Warm Front is a government-funded initiative that aims to make homes warmer, more comfortable and more energy efficient. It provides a package of home insulation and central heating / boiler improvements up to a maximum value of £2,700 (or, if oil fired central heating is recommended, up to £4,000). Refer to the Warm Front Grants – What Do They Cover? article for a description of what can be provided.

The scheme is only available in England but similar schemes operate in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Who Runs the Scheme?

The Warm Front Scheme is managed by EAGA, a company that runs various government programmes that tackle fuel poverty. You can contact EAGA by:

• calling 0800 3162805 for advice
• accessing their Warm Front web site (www.warmfront.co.uk) to obtain full and up-to-date information about the scheme
• sending an email to bec@eaga.com to check your eligibility or to enquiry@eaga.com for advice.

How Do I Apply?

You first need to find out if you qualify for a grant — see the Warm Front Scheme - Do You Qualify? article or check the list on the web site www.warmfront.co.uk. If you do qualify, you can apply by telephone or directly from the web site.

What Happens Next?

If your application for a grant is successful, a trained assessor will visit your home, at a convenient time for you, to find out what is required. The visit will normally take place within three weeks of your application for a grant being approved and should last no longer than one hour.
The assessor will:

• need to see proof of your benefits in order to check that your claim is valid
• carry out a survey of your home
• tell you about the energy improvements that are available under the scheme
• recommend what needs to be done.

If the recommended work costs more than the available grant, you will be told the figure because you will have to pay the excess amount.
If you decide to go ahead, the work will be done at a pre-arranged time.

And that’s it. Providing the cost of the work is covered by the grant, there’s nothing to pay!

Insulating your loft is a simple, fast and relatively inexpensive way of reducing heating bills and CO2 emissions, without it as much as 15% of your home’s heat is lost through it’s roof.

Even if you have some form of insulation at present it could probably benefit from being topped up, loft insulation works like a blanket on your house, retaining the heat inside, the thicker the blanket, the greater the benefit.

The recommended thickness is 270mm, most older homes typically have around 50-100mm, with the addition of a second layer significant benefits can still be achieved. In fact most households will see a payback wihtin 2-6 years depending on the level of insulation already in the loft.

Types of Insulation

Traditional insulation has been through the use of mineral fibre or fiberglass rolls laid between the joists, newer methods of insulation consist of blowing granular insulation material such as vermiculite and mineral fibre into the loft space which can be a quicker method, rolls of insulation can be installed by most DIYers but blown insulation will require the use of special equipment and is best left to a specialist contractor.

Another type of insulation is roof boards, these are applied to the internal pitch of the roof and act as an additonal insulator between the loft and the outside world.

Alistair Darling revealed yesterday an increase in winter fuel payments for pensioners. The increase will benefit 9 million pensioners with a one off cash payment to help with gas and electricity bills.

Winter fuel payments will increase from £200 to £250 for the over 60s and £300 to £400 for the over 80s. The increased payment is to help in times of extreme weather but comes as only a small relief as it will not even cover the recent surge in energy prices. Not only that but the increase doesn’t start until December so pensioners will have to bare the brunt of increased heating bills until then!

Most UK homes that have been built since the 1920s have cavity walls. These external walls consist of two layers of brick with a gap or cavity left between them. By filling this cavity with insulating material, you can greatly reduce the amount of heat which is lost through the walls of your home. Cavity wall insulation is one of the most simple and cost efficient ways of insulating your home, saving the average home 15% on energy bills. This works out at around £90 per year and will reduce carbon emissions by 750kg annually.

It is estimated that around a third of the heat in your home may escape in this way, so by insulating the cavity walls you stand to make large savings on your home energy bills. Not only will it save you money but also it regulates the temperature within your home, retaining heat and keeping you warm during the cold winter months and keeping you cool during the summer. Cavity wall insulation will also help prevent condensation gathering on the walls of your home and put a stop to any instances of rising damp. Another advantage is how well it acts as soundproofing!

Installing cavity wall insulation is a simple and quick job which can be carried out by a skilled technician at a reasonable cost. The gap between the walls is injected with insulating material, usually foam, polybeads or rock wool, through a series of holes, which are drilled into the walls from the outside. For an average size semi-detached house the process will usually only take around 3 hours and leaves no mess either inside or outside the home.

The average cost of cavity wall insulation is around £500, but with the savings you will make on your annual heating bills, it should pay for itself in around 5 years.

The European Parliament is set to ban patio heaters in a bid to help the environment, the misguided view by ministers is that the ban will substantially reduce CO2 emissions, a view that Dr Eric Johnson does not agree with…

“The overall impact of outdoor heaters on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions is very minimal, and once you look at the domestic models used in homes, the impact is almost non-existent,” A view that off-grid.net, the green un-plugged site, agrees with.

In reality the reduction in emission will amount to just 0.002 per cent of the total UK CO2 emissions. To put this in perspective it would take more than 5 outdoor gas heaters to emit as much carbon dioxide as one TV does in a year, on stand-by mode!

C02 poisoning claimed 50 lives between January 2006 and April 2007 according to a new CORGI report. In addition 120 incidents and 218 injuries were reported although this figure is thought to be much higher due to fragmented reporting and cases passing through healthcare un-reported.

As expected vulnerable groups include children and elderly whilst tenants are also to be at a high level of risk due to landlords disregarding boiler safety regulations. Of most concern is the general lack of awareness of carbon monoxide poisoning, the report showed that 90% of households have smoke alarms but only 25% have CO2 alarms with 3% not even knowing what one is.

Worst hit regions include The North East, Yorkshire, Wales and the Midlands.

Recommendations made within the report included regular servicing of gas boilers and appliances by a CORGI registered member. Flues and chimneys should be kept clear and the fitting of a carbon monoxide (CO) detector should be prioritised.

Consumer website Which? has voted the Baxi Duo-tec Combi 28 HE condensing boiler as it’s best buy in the the boiler category. It was awarded a 5 star rating for it’s efficiency, features, NOx emissions and ease of installation. Which? rigorously tested 34 boilers for efficiency, ease of use and durability. Efficiency testing closely monitors gas and electricity consumption and how much gas each boiler converts into useable heat. In addition to this every boiler was rated by a Corgi engineer on ease-of-use, installation and servicing.

Which? commented…

” It’s one of the few boilers we’ve tested which reaches the very highest efficiency standards, matching its claims to meet the A Sedbuk standard. As well as offering excellent efficiency, this boiler is also reassuringly easy to use.”

Other boilers that were rated highly include…

• Potterton Gold C24 HE (combi condensing boiler)
• Vaillant ecoTEC plus 824 (combination condensing boiler)
• Vaillant ecoTEC plus 831 (combination condensing boiler)

Bucking the trend in an increasingly competitive market central heating and boiler installations by British Gas rose 24% to 113,000 in the past year, average revenue per installation came in at £3,018.

Uswitch.com raised the issue after Britsh Gas’s Home Services division announced a rise in revenue to £348m, an increase of 32%. Profit in the same period rose 48% to £151m.

Continued growth in British Gas’s HomeCare product which covers central heating and boiler breakdown helped increase revenue with a 7% increase in customers taking out HomeCare, this takes the number of active contracts to a staggering 7.6m.

Figures for British Gas’s Ondemand non-contract emergency breakdown repair service also rose by 19% to 414,000 call-outs.

British Gas may not be the cheapest supplier but strong results such as these ensure continued investment in technology and engineering deployment.

Mike O’Brien, the Minister for Pensions Reform is calling for all elderly people receiving Pension Credit to apply for Home Insulation Grants. Insulating your home against heat loss is the single most important measure you can make to reduce energy bills and significantly improves quality of life.

“If you own your own home or rent it from a private landlord, you may be eligible for a free grant to insulate your walls and loft.” Mike O’Brien goes on to say “£1 in every £3 spent on heating bills is wasted in poorly insulated homes.”

Grants are available through the Governments Warm Front Heating and Insulation scheme. The minister is urging pensioners to call the free Energy Advice Line on 0800 027 7668.

With ever increasing energy prices it’s more important than ever to ensure every penny available is used to help in reducing heating bills.