£1 million London boiler fund to tackle fuel poverty

A new fund is to provide £1 million for Londoners to replace or repair inefficient or broken boilers. The Better Boilers fund, launched by Mayor Sadiq Khan, is the first ever pan-London scheme of its kind to help Londoners living in fuel poverty.

The pilot scheme will help up to 500 fuel-poor homeowners in London to keep warm this winter by replacing or replacing inefficient or broken boilers with A-rated appliances.

The Mayor has committed to producing a Fuel Poverty Action Plan and to reducing bills through Energy for Londoners, his programme on energy and fuel poverty which aims to help Londoners get out of fuel poverty and put the city on a path to zero carbon by 2050.

Sadiq Khan said: “It is shocking that more than 1 million Londoners live in fuel poverty. People should not have to choose whether to heat their homes or buy food.

“I am committed to making our capital a city for all Londoners, and part of that means people being able to heat their homes and live in comfort, as well as breathe cleaner air. This scheme is another step towards achieving that.”

To be eligible for the Better Boilers scheme, people must be homeowners in receipt of qualifying benefits with either:

• an inefficient gas, oil, LPG or solid fuel boiler (typically at least 10 years old) in working order, or
• a broken gas, oil, LPG or solid fuel boiler of any age or level of efficiency.

The scheme will be administered by the Energy Saving Trust; and installations and repairs will be undertaken by a contractor from the Mayor of London’s energy efficiency programme RE:NEW.

The London Boiler Cashback Scheme will continue to run in parallel to Better Boilers until funds run out. The boiler cashback scheme differs from the new scheme because it does not directly address fuel poverty. The £1 million capital funding for Better Boilers has been reallocated from the cashback scheme, in recognition of the need to reduce carbon emissions and tackle fuel poverty.