From the BBC:
A government scheme that gives households in England £400 off the cost of a new boiler has been launched... Once you have found out if your boiler qualifies for replacement, the next step is to arrange a quote for a new one from a qualified installer. This could cost anything between £2,000 and £3,000...
Ho hum. So for all the hassle of battling with fakecharity Energy Savings Trust, you effectively get a refund of the VAT you've paid on your new boiler, taking a mid price of £2,500 x 7/47 = £372. Why not just scrap VAT on new boilers and cut out the middleman?
Tuesday 5 January 2010
More tax and subsidy fun
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5 comments:
Because schemes like this are primarily designed to cut the middleman in and only secondarily designed to buy votes, sorry, help people save energy?
I'd place a small wager that going to a "qualified installer" will cost you oh, about £400 more than going to Pete the Plumber down the road. I'm also prepared to bet that you don't get to be a "qualified installer" unless you put a wedge of money the Government's way.
B, it gets worse the more you think about it. Plus you can add on the bungs that manufacturers have to pay the govt to ensure that their boilers get an 'A' rating, which they cheerfully add to the price.
We already had this with a list of 'green' boilers on which a business could claim 100% ECA capital allowances. Mysteriously, those boilers were all a few hundred quid more expensive that ones that didn't make the grade.
"B, it gets worse the more you think about it."
It just does, doesn't it. I mean, the boiler doesn't suddenly become less efficient if it's installed by Pete the Plumber, does it (unless P the P is spectacularly incompetent, but then caveat emptor)? How difficult is it anyway to remove one boiler and connect a new one to the same pipework, control wiring and flue?
B, plus they have to fill out long and complicated forms every time they do something and get it signed off by an inspector from the council and then explain the form to you.
One more honest plumber told me that although our boiler was not the most efficient in the world, the grief and hassle of getting new gas pipes fitted and approved (they were quarter inch not half inch) and pump-fed not gravity-fed GCH system fitted and approved (some other insane EU reg's) wasn't worth it, and that was 4 years ago, it's almost certainly got worse since then.
And don't forget that the fitter will increase the price by £400 immediately, when he knows you're claiming the subsidy.
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