Ian Cowan lives with his wife and four children in a three-bed mid-terraced house in East Kilbride, Scotland. The house has been the family home for eight years. Originally built in the 1950s, the home was draughty and poorly insulated and until recently, had a 20-year-old temperamental gas boiler.
However, last year, Ian decided he’d had enough of his boiler going on the blink and decided to apply to SSE for a free combi-boiler through the government-backed Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme.
The scheme enables people living in poorly insulated homes or with inefficient heating systems, and who are in receipt of certain benefits, to receive free energy efficiency measures such as new boilers, heating systems and insulation.
He said: “Eventually my old boiler completely packed up. We’d also had it a long time and the costs to increasingly replace the parts were expensive. It was also not energy efficient in the slightest. You couldn’t have hot water without having the heating on and vice versa. This meant to have hot water on tap you also had to have the heating on constantly which didn’t help with managing our energy costs.”
Ian applied to SSE last year and was delighted in November to get a brand new, energy efficient combi-boiler installed in his home completely free and bringing instant benefits.
Ian added: “It has made a fantastic difference. I can now get hot water on demand as I can now control when I want hot water and heating. It also seems to heat the entire house up compared to the old boiler. My daughter’s room at the back of the house always seemed cold but now it’s warm and she’s loving it.
“I know it’s early days but I’ve been checking my gas meter readings and it looks like I’m already saving on how much I’m using, compared to the same period last year so that is good news.”
David Smith, Area Development Manager at SSE, added: “Ian’s story helps us get the message out that the Energy Company Obligation scheme can bring benefits to low income and vulnerable households. SSE is on course to install around 100,000 energy efficiency measures just like this to homes right across the country this financial year.
“I urge people to check the eligibility criteria to see if they can benefit from this government-backed scheme.”
SSE is currently installing a number of free energy efficiency measures under the government’s Energy Company Obligation right across Scotland, England and Wales. Some of the projects also include working closely with local councils to provide free loft and cavity wall insulation, new boilers and heating systems.
To find out more about the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), the energy efficiency measures available and eligibility criteria visit http://www.sse.co.uk/freeinstalls/