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Chap at door offering to save money on heating bill - Green deal
Just had someone at the door from GZ Energy Solutions, based in Glasgow, asking about the house. Saying they're working under one of the government schemes where they offer loft insulation, new boiler etc for free. We're actually needing the loft insulated as there is nothing up there and before we had British Gas round who were offering free insulation but they walked away saying the headroom was something like 5cm under the health and safety requirements.
Anyway we let the chap in, who looked in the loft and said his guys could do that in 20min easily. He also looked at the boiler and said it's old and we could get it replaced too (the thing is 15 years old).
He then went on about how the big energy companies are paying for all this work to meet their green targets otherwise they get fined. All of which I was aware of so I knew he wasn't talking rubbish or doing some sales pitch. I said a few times to him that as long as someone else is paying for all of this work then I'm happy with it.
He has arranged for an assessor to come out on Monday to do a energy review and will then let me know what we're entitled too. But once he left he handed me some paperwork and it has Green Deal all over it. After doing some research it seems that it's not free, but in fact a loan which we repay through our electric bill based on how much money we will be saving. Which raises a couple of questions:
1) Do I have to pay for this assessment? It seems according to MoneySavingsExpert that you could pay up to £150. But he didn't say anything about cost, and the paperwork I signed doesn't say there is a fee.
2) Are companies still offering on behalf of the energy providers or government all this work for free? I know years ago it seemed these guys were going round every door offering all this work for free but I thought that all stopped. So now just worried this is some other scheme which you do pay for.
My thinking (and what I'm hoping) is that they do offer this Green Deal, but from the way he was talking saying stuff like how the energy companies are targeting old house like ours to do all this work for free without any loan attached.
Anyway we let the chap in, who looked in the loft and said his guys could do that in 20min easily. He also looked at the boiler and said it's old and we could get it replaced too (the thing is 15 years old).
He then went on about how the big energy companies are paying for all this work to meet their green targets otherwise they get fined. All of which I was aware of so I knew he wasn't talking rubbish or doing some sales pitch. I said a few times to him that as long as someone else is paying for all of this work then I'm happy with it.
He has arranged for an assessor to come out on Monday to do a energy review and will then let me know what we're entitled too. But once he left he handed me some paperwork and it has Green Deal all over it. After doing some research it seems that it's not free, but in fact a loan which we repay through our electric bill based on how much money we will be saving. Which raises a couple of questions:
1) Do I have to pay for this assessment? It seems according to MoneySavingsExpert that you could pay up to £150. But he didn't say anything about cost, and the paperwork I signed doesn't say there is a fee.
2) Are companies still offering on behalf of the energy providers or government all this work for free? I know years ago it seemed these guys were going round every door offering all this work for free but I thought that all stopped. So now just worried this is some other scheme which you do pay for.
My thinking (and what I'm hoping) is that they do offer this Green Deal, but from the way he was talking saying stuff like how the energy companies are targeting old house like ours to do all this work for free without any loan attached.
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They know the drill and just bugger off. There's always some sucker (or vulnerable people) who'll let them in and listen to their lies and half truths.
Okay I've got that off my chest!
The first thing I did when I read the OP was Google GZ Energy Solutions, and their website says who they are and what they do and CSCO stands for Carbon Saving Community Obligation Grant. They advise contacting the Energy Saving Advisory Service (ESAS), so I Googled that and it's a government initiative set up by the Department of Energy and Climate Change, and run by the Energy Saving Trust: https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/helping-households-to-cut-their-energy-bills
The Green Deal itself is a series of energy saving plans you can take out, and grants (if you qualify) covering each stage of the process. The grants come from the government's Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, which was launched in June 2014.
The scheme allows home owners, tenants and landlords to claim back up to £7,600 for improvements carried out. These can include the addition of solid wall insulation and glazing, or energy efficiency improvements to a heating system.
These are the plans -
Core offer 1: up to £1,000 for installing two of the eligible*, energy saving products.
Core offer 2: up to 75% of the total price for internal or external solid wall insulation (up to £6,000).
Add-on 3: an additional £500 if the home was purchased in the past 12 months.
Add-on 4: a refund for carrying out a Green Deal Assessment Report (GDAR), up to £100.
*Condensing mains gas boiler, Fan-assisted storage heaters, Flue gas heat recovery, Replacement warm-air unit, Waste water heat recovery, Cavity wall insulation, Flat roof insulation, Floor insulation, Room-in-roof insulation, Double/triple glazing (replacing single glazing), Secondary glazing, Replacement doors.
I'd advise you to contact the Energy Saving Trust on the free 'phone number on the webpage and take free advice from them about your energy needs ie loft insulation and a new boiler. Cancel the assessor visit from GZ unless the Energy Saving Trust says they are an approved company and trustworthy. Also just to say you could insulate the loft yourself and the only outlay would be buying the insulation. The recommended thickness is 270mm.
http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Energy-Saving-Trust/Contact-us
GZ do appear to be an approved company, I've found them listed on one of the Gov websites for this deal.
The more I've looked into it the more it seems they're trying to sign us up for the ECO Funding, from what I gather is we don't pay a penny. The money comes from a large fund to help improve homes for low-income families, or houses that need a lot of work done such as ours.
At the end of the day, as long as I'm not paying for the assessor on Monday (I won't let him in the door until he has confirmed there is no cost) and they're offering free loft insulation and maybe a new boiler and external wall insulation then I'm happy for them to do the work. But I will make sure to ask upfront about costs before anyone else walks through my front door.
Don't do anything until the scheme re-opens.
You'll have to pay for the assessment, but provided the new fund is being allocated in the same way as the last fund, you'll get most of it back (eventually!) when your claim is processed. Here in Scotland, the Green Deal terms were different to England, but we were able to claim back £100 of the £129 we paid for the assessment.
http://www.which.co.uk/energy/creating-an-energy-saving-home/guides/energy-grants/energy-company-obligation-eco/
As he has written ECO on the front of the paperwork and it actually says ECO assessment on the form he left me. This is designed for homes where the cost of the works would outweigh the cost savings as well as for people in low-income areas, in our case the external wall insulation on our 150 year old property.
The one thing I can't find in writting yet is if the full cost of the works is covered by the scheme or if it's like a partial grant. To be honest the whole system is a mess with so many different things running.
He's operating at a loss at that price
Get your boiler installed for free on the Green deal, then ask gas safe to come and inspect the installation for free. They will come out and identify the faults, the installer will have to come and rectify (for free) otherwise lose their gas safe registration.
The installer will typically be paid £100-£150 to do the entire job, he will skip the flushing, proper commissioning and anything else that takes longer than the half day to complete. It will be a complete bodge but rememeber tax payers are subsidising it all.
Also avoid Worcester- overpriced plastic tat, anyone who fixes boilers rather than just fitting knows this.
Are you mad?
Have you checked to see if anything has been stolen?
The Eco fund is different, Energy companies pay for it (via everyones bills). It's for people on low incomes/unemployment, or landlords with said people to improve their property portfolio...
Mates' rate.
They couldn't do the boiler as you need to be on benefits he said and there is no money to insulate the external wall. That part I'm not so sure about, it seemed like he was trying to get out of it by saying it was cavity walls. I had to correct in by point out the house is over 100 years old so it's solid walls.