British Gas Offer Discount Scheme Instead Of £400 Boiler Grants

Watching the news last night I was really pleased to hear that the government had announced a new scrappage scheme for old and inefficient boilers. Any boilers rated “G” (which I take to mean ‘crap’) are eligible to be replaced with the help of a £400 grant from the government. According to Direct.Gov, the grant will help up to 125,000 households in the UK which have G-rated boilers, helping them to save over £200 a year just by upgrading to a new, efficient model.

As a renter who has lived in possibly the coldest house in the country, I have a lot of sympathy for things like good insulation and lower fuel bills. Although I couldn’t apply for this grant myself, I’d certainly want my landlord to (although he doesn’t pay the bills so persuading him might be tricky!).

Anyway, it’s generally agreed that this grant is a Good Thing, but British Gas have said that they won’t be passing on the saving to their customers. According to the Times, British Gas already run their own discount scheme where customers get over £700 off a new boiler, radiator controls and servicing costs. Apparently, customers can either have the £400 grant, or have the normal discount, but they can’t have both.

Now, the discount that British Gas offers is great, but I don’t understand what harm it would do them to also pass on the government grant. I mean, the money is coming from the government, so it’s not like it’s costing British Gas anything. In fact, surely the grant is helping to push more people into getting a new boiler, which means more work for British Gas engineers.

Either way, there’s another incentive to upgrade your boiler and if I wasn’t a British Gas customer (and if I was a homeowner!) I’d apply for the grant. It’s a shame British Gas won’t let you apply for it and still get their discount, but the discount they offer already at least matches what you’d get from the grant. With winters this cold, an efficient boiler is certainly on the ‘must-have’ list!