FAQs

The funding varies from area to area; you can find out my clicking on your area on the map on our home page or call us to find out more.

No one energy supplier is best or even cheapest for everyone. It all depends on you, your home and how you use your energy. The best way to find out is to do a comparison online on an ofgem accredited switching site. If you feel this is not something you would be comfortable with you can call us and we can do a comparison over the phone with you. Just so you know, it is illegal for anyone to switch energy suppliers for you, so any comparisons you do with either us or a switching site will not automatically switch you but will provide you with information on which would be best for you.

If you feel uncomfortable at all with a contractor then they are probably not the contractors for you. We have a list of installers which we have worked with for a number of years and have a good working relationship with. Otherwise ask around, find someone you can see the work of and that you have a reference for, there are also a number of find a trader type websites which will have references from local people so you can get a feel for their work. You can check to see if a contractor is gas safe registered here, this will also tell you what they are qualified to do. We would always recommend that you get at least 3 quotes so you can compare prices.

There are a number of local and government schemes around at the moment to help people access new boilers. Click on your area on the map on our home page to find out what is available in your area or call us for more information.

Unfortunately there are very few funding pots for double glazing. The current government grants are based on carbon savings, and although double glazing can make a great improvement to the comfort of your home, the carbon savings are relatively low. Check out the map on the home page of our website to see if your local area has any funding for this.

Most local schemes will need you to have been living in the property for at least 12 months, although some areas and projects require longer. The current Government ECO scheme for boilers, loft and cavity wall insulation do not have this clause on them but your household and/or your property will have to fit into the criteria, call us for more information on this and to talk to us about your personal circumstances.

There are ways to insulate walls that do not have a cavity, the two main ways are internal or external wall insulation. Internal wall insulation is attached to the inside if your walls and can come in a number of different varieties, it is much cheaper than external wall insulation but does reduce the size of the room and would mean that redecorating will likely be needed. External wall insulation is attached to the outside of the walls, it causes minimal destruction inside the property but is expensive.

There are currently no grants to install renewable energies but once they are installed there are some benefits. Unfortunately the Government have recently scrapped their feed in tariff scheme installations that create electricity but for any installation that creates heat a household can still access a renewable heat incentive (or RHI).

Older storage heaters usually have an ‘input’ and ‘output’ dial. The input dial determines how much energy is stored in the heater overnight and the output dial determines how much heat is released through the day. The higher the input dial the more energy will be stored and the higher the output dial the quicker it will be released.
The output dial needs to be set to how much heat you want now and the input dial needs to be set for how much heat you want tomorrow. If the heater runs out of heat in the evening you may need to turn the input dial up or the output dial down.
In the summer when you do not need any heat it is best to turn the heaters off at the wall not just down to 0 as this will still use energy.
Newer storage heaters can usually be set to come on and off throughout the day and are much easier to control, you can also set different temperatures for different times of the day. These storage heaters have a much higher heat retention and you will often find they have heat a lot later into the evening than an older storage heater.

A combi (or combination) boiler heats both the radiators and the water as it passes through the boiler, this means you will get instant hot water and will not need to heat up a tank to get this. A Standard boiler has a separate water tank which is heated from the boiler through elements in the tank, you will need to heat this tank once or twice a day to guarantee hot water on demand, a hot water tank jacket can help insulate the tank so that the water remains hotter for longer.
A condensing boiler will be more efficient as it has a bigger heat exchanger that it uses to recover more heat from the burning gas, this will be the case for almost all boilers installed since 2005. If it was installed before this date then it is likely to be non-condensing.

You can insulate a loft using ‘room-in-roof’ insulation which involves insulating the roof rather than the loft floor. Usually this will be done by fixing solid insulation boards between the rafters, these can then be covered in plasterboard. To find out if there are currently any funding opportunities in your area call us or visit our installer list to find local contractors who can do the work.

Unfortunately the Government do not allow landlords to access funding for F & G rated properties through ECO or ECO flex, this is so that landlords fulfill the obligation themselves. If your property is E or above you will be able to access funding but you will need a tenant in the property as funding will be determined on their personal circumstances. There is no funding for vacant properties. Local schemes may offer some funding for F & G rated properties but a tenant will still need to be in the property, click on your area on the map on the home page of our website to find out more about this or call us.