‘Grants are needed to upgrade heating systems’
Grants are needed for central heating upgrades, says Wilo. Financial website ThisIsMoney reported recently that three in five over-60s with a household income of £20,000 or less have cut back on heating or powering their homes to make ends meet, following research from Age UK. The charity for older people also found that 8.9 million (54%) of people over 60 are worried about being able to pay their energy bills and 7.3 million have already reduced social and leisure activities to pay for food and energy.
The findings led to Age UK calling for more financial support from the Chancellor to help older people this winter. Wilo echoes this sentiment and believes that contributions for cost-effective upgrades must be made available, such as grants to replace inefficient central heating circulation pumps.
The company’s national sales manager Andy Thompson says: “While there are various pots of money available to support people that are struggling this winter with one-off top-up payments, it is critical that the government helps to fund more energy efficiency upgrades as well. Only then can we relieve people of these fuel poverty issues long term.
“For example, central heating circulation pumps are relatively inexpensive to purchase and install and are a quick win in comparison to other measures like increasing insulation or installing air source heat pumps. People living in older homes using old, fixed-speed circulation pumps could be spending up to 80% more in energy and costs, compared to newer heating circulator pump models.”
For installers helping people upgrade their circulating pumps this winter, Andy also encourages them to thoroughly check the pumps they are purchasing to ensure they are compliant, following estimates from the BPMA that 100,000 non-compliant pumps are being sold over the counter in the UK annually.
“Unfortunately, there are fake pumps coming into the UK market that are being made to look like the real deal. Not only are these non-compliant and could break down much earlier than expected, but they also won’t help people long term with energy saving.”
