observer Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 Seems the Gov has launched a home insulation scheme - fine, there's clearly a need for an energy demand reduction strategy. BUT, will folk be prepared to pay for it? The cost of a loan will be added to your normal energy bills apparently. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 28, 2013 Report Share Posted January 28, 2013 A better plan would be for the subsidies to "renewables" to be stopped which should result in an immediate drop in our energy bills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Most of our housing stock is old and not energy efficient, we are one of the worst in Europe, why not replace it. It would also have the added bonus of stimulating our economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davy51 Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 But most people of a certain age can't get a mortgage to replace their home with a new one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 I can't see a problem if the repayments are guaranteed to be equal or less that the amount saved. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fugtifino Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Think the main issue is that the debt stays with the property, not the individual who took the loan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolfie Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 After sitting through countless TV adverts, drifting my eyes to cornered internet ads and seeing many articles in the newspaper of efforts to conserve energy to help the world.We are now replacing books with devices that run on electricity.................... Nice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 An example they used on the news report cited a saving (presumably an estimate) of £600 pa, but the cost of the loan would be around £500 (not sure how long that would take to repay the total loan, or even how much the total is?) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 My TOTAL energy bill for a two bed house is about £85 per month - call it an even thousand a year, not far short of the UK average of £1200 - NO WAY are savings of anything like £600 per year realistic without spending many tens of thousands on completely rebuilding the property. And spending tens of thousands would result in repayments of way more than the energy saved. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 After sitting through countless TV adverts, drifting my eyes to cornered internet ads and seeing many articles in the newspaper of efforts to conserve energy to help the world.We are now replacing books with devices that run on electricity.................... Nice. Burn the books.... save money! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Good idea Baz, oh hang on a minute, Adolf beat you to it Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Good idea Baz, oh hang on a minute, Adolf beat you to it but we could start with party manifestos and political coreectness manuals.... that would keep us going for a while! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 After sitting through countless TV adverts, drifting my eyes to cornered internet ads and seeing many articles in the newspaper of efforts to conserve energy to help the world.We are now replacing books with devices that run on electricity.................... Nice. I think you would have to compare the low energy consumption of modern electronic devices, (TVs, computers ) allowing millions of people to read the same books, newspapers, magazines etc, with the large amount of energy required to produce paper copies of the same publications before making a judgement on that Wolfie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 I can’t see what the problem is. Providing someone’s prepared to lend you the dosh to make the savings and providing they never charge you more than what you save then you’ve got to be quids in. How long it takes to pay back and how much it cost to borrow doesn’t really matter just as long as your bills are lower. An example they used on the news report cited a saving (presumably an estimate) of £600 pa, but the cost of the loan would be around £500 (not sure how long that would take to repay the total loan, or even how much the total is?) In this case a £1200 average spend would drop the bill to £600 + £500 repayment making you £100 better off each year. If the loan was £5000 and interest free, it would take about ten years to pay off but it wouldn’t matter if it took twenty years, your still £100 year better off for doing it. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Don't forget that this is government talking. And government figures never add up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 It's not interest free though - the announcement stated "typical" interest rates of 8% per year. That means that if you could make a saving of £600, and £500 of this went to repay the loan, then the maximum loan size for a ten year repayment would be about £3200. There just ain't NO WAY you can HALVE the energy bills on a house for a spend of only £3200! (Plus, there's an upfront "survey fee" to the householder of £150 regardless of whether or not any work gets done, and then work can only be done by "approved contractors" who will have had significant costs getting their accreditation and so will charge well over the odds and provide relatively poor value for money for the work they do) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 So we should start to replace old housing stock!!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 If homeowners want to either upgrade their homes, or move to a more modern property, or even completely rebuild their own houses in order to benefit from reduced energy usage then that's a financial decision for them alone to make. No need for £175 million of taxpayers money to be pumped into a complicated scheme offering worse interest rates than people can get to finance their own improvements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Alot of people want to upgrade their home but are unable Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazj Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 I'm upgrading mine at the moment.... dust everywhere..... and just finished a bit of impromptu plumbing!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
observer Posted January 29, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 They seem to have adopted a complex and convoluted approach, which may raise suspicion and deter folk taking it up - perhaps a free enviromental (energy saving upgrade) for ALL properties would fare better? I say "free", but ultimately we would be paying for it through taxation no doubt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asperity Posted January 29, 2013 Report Share Posted January 29, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lt Kije Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inky pete Posted January 30, 2013 Report Share Posted January 30, 2013 Alot of people want to upgrade their home but are unable Unable how? Unable to afford a couple of rolls of loft insulation at a tenner a piece? Or a few draught excluder strips for a fiver? Unable to pick up the phone and get their utility company to pay for FREE cavity wall insulation? Or get Warm Front to put a new boiler in for them for FREE? Unable to find a couple of thousand for new double glazing throughout (despite sitting in a house worth hundreds of thousands)? There's already plenty of free stuff out there for householders - paid for by all the pseudo-green levies on the bills of those who've already done it off their own bats. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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