Chancellor Alistair Darling has outlined plans to rid the UK of its most inefficient boilers, pledging to award households in need of a new, environmentally-friendly heating system a cheque for £400.
Revealing his pre-Budget report to the country, Mr Darling said he would allocate £85 million to the scheme, which will see about 125,000 of the most polluting boilers destroyed and replaced by green alternatives.
All boilers are rated on a scale of A to G - with A being the most
energy efficient – and it is those classed as G that will be targeted first.
"Each inefficient boiler adds over £200 to
household energy bills and one tonne of carbon to the atmosphere," explained the chancellor.
Despite the adverse effect on energy bills, many families with an old energy-sapping boiler cannot afford to splash out on a new model - which is where the £400 government grant is expected to help.
David Raistrick, UK manufacturing industry leader at consultancy firm Deloitte, stated: "Homeowners and the environment will benefit greatly from the scheme. Domestic heating in the UK is a significant source of emissions, with boilers accounting for approximately 60 per cent of these emissions."
Mr Raistrick advised anyone in a position to take advantage of the scheme to do so, as they will soon reap the financial and environmental benefits.
Government officials may be hoping that the boiler scrappage scheme has as much of an effect as its car namesake did, which helped the ailing car industry through the worst of the recession by allowing older gas-guzzling vehicles to be traded in for more energy-efficient models.
In September, Alessia Horwich of the Independent stated that swapping an old boiler for a new eco-friendly one can wipe 20 per cent off of energy bills overnight.
She wrote that of all the power used in a household, the most wasteful is heating and water – often due to an inefficient boiler.
