The Chancellor aims to introduce the Boiler Scrappage Scheme in early 2010, which enables homeowners to trade in their existing boilers for a newer, more energy efficient condensing model. Most importantly, the Boiler Scrappage Scheme provides a cash incentive of up to £400 towards the replacement.

The Chancellor’s plan is certainly not a bad idea in the short term but, so far as long term environmental targets are concerned, it does little to address the fact that imported non-renewable fuels will still be required to heat most homes throughout the country, thereby making it a little less of a bad thing.

Another criticism of the Boiler Scrappage Scheme is the 125,000 home cap is probably not enough to drive significant environmental change in the country. Moreover, it is thought many of the most inefficient boilers can be found in privately rented homes, so it is somewhat unrealistic to expect landlords to purchase a new boiler installation for the sake of their tenants’ energy bills and a £400 cash incentive.

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The recently published pre-budget report has largely been derided as too soft on repaying the national deficit and too hard on the everyday Joe. Of course, all budgets are subject to criticism of some form or another and they rarely involve black or white issues – especially with regard to pre-election budgets – so not everybody’s needs will always be satisfied. However, the recent pre-budget report released by Alistair Darling features surprisingly good news for homeowners and property developers.

In fact, there are two notable provisions of the pre-budget report that are likely to be of great value and interest to homeowners. First, the boiler scrappage scheme, which will most likely be launched in early 2010, enables homeowners to trade in their old boilers for up to £400. In respect to meeting the UK Government’s environmental targets, which ultimately aim to cut the emission of harmful greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, the boiler scrappage scheme is useful in so much as it allows homeowners to replace their old boilers with new and efficient condensing boilers, whilst receiving a cash incentive in the process.

However, the boiler scrappage scheme does present a potentially awkward problem in respect to existing boilers that are fitted on internal walls, which is fairly common for old boilers. Indeed, the new condensing boilers must be installed to an external wall in order to condense efficiently, so this could pose a few problems for homeowners. Nevertheless, the scheme is likely to be of benefit to homeowners on the whole. Finally, the Chancellor has also announced that environmentally conscious homeowners will be entitled to feed-in tariffs, which guarantee a price for electricity fed back to the national grid (via solar panels, wind turbines, etc.) as of April 2010, which could provide more than £900 tax free each year on average per household.

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