£6million to Replace Old Boilers – Is Yours Past Its Sell By Date?

HUNDREDS of  homes across County Down could have a new efficient boiler as an additional £6million is allocated to the Department for Social Development’s boiler replacement scheme for Northern Ireland.

The additional money, secured from the European Regional Development Fund, will increase the numbers of homes likely to benefit from the scheme from 16,000 to 24,000.

More than 6,500 households across Northern Ireland have already had new boilers installed, since Housing Minister Nelson McCausland announced the scheme in September last year.

Making the announcement, Minister McCausland said: “This scheme has been hugely successful, with on average around 600 installations a month. I am delighted that this additional money will see many more of those most in need benefiting. In less than a year, more than 6,500 homes have had new boilers installed, each one seeing an increase in thermal efficiency. More than 70 per cent of those with new boilers are also on lower incomes, exactly the kind of people I wanted to support.

“With this additional money now in place, I want to encourage others to take advantage of these possible savings – potentially £2700 over ten years in an average three bedroom semi-detached house. With such good weather, now is the ideal time to get the work done and I would encourage anyone who’s household income is less than £40,000 a year with an inefficient boiler of at least 15 years, to contact the Housing Executive on 03448 920900 or log onto nidirect at http://www.nidirect.gov.uk/boiler-replacement.”

The scheme offers owner occupiers a grant of up to £1,000 to replace inefficient boilers, with energy efficient condensing oil or gas boilers; switching from oil to gas; or switching to a wood pellet boiler. It is available to those who earn less than £40,000 a year with an inefficient boiler of at least 15 years and is dependent on total gross income.

The Minister continued: “The Housing Executive has also issued almost 11,000 approval forms and I would encourage those who have received one and have not had their work completed, to contact their installer now and arrange to do so.

“So far more than 800 local installers have also benefited from the scheme by carrying out the work. At a time when the sector is under pressure, this has been a welcome boost for many small local businesses and I hope this additional funding for homeowners will have a knock on affect for local suppliers.”