A CORGI Award...and a Stark Warning

At the 2010 CORGI awards dinner, I was extremely proud to be recognised by my own industry with a special award for having made "an exceptional contribution to the heating and plumbing industry".

The award related, of course, to my campaign to persuade the government to adopt a boiler scrappage scheme. Apart from the obvious environmental benefits, the reduction in household gas bills and the stimulus to British industry, the most important aspect of the scheme was that it benefited independent installers as well as the industry giants.

Whilst acknowledging the award on behalf of the campaign team, I am prompted to issue a stark warning on the risk of smaller installers being excluded from future government schemes.

Figures released to the Guardian newspaper, under a freedom of information request, prove just how important this is to consumers.

The newspaper uncovered evidence that, during the Boiler Scrappage scheme, the big energy suppliers charged on average a third more to replace an old inefficient boiler than small or medium sized independent installers. In some areas that rose to a staggering 60% more expensive.

The figures show that getting your boiler installed by an energy supplier cost on average £812 more than using a small to medium independent supplier. Guardian - 21/9/2010

There has long been anecdotal evidence that smaller companies offer much better value for money and these figures back up evidence found by WHICH? Magazine who reported similar findings in a smaller survey earlier this year.

When the government takes an initiative in the market, it must make great efforts to ensure that all suppliers can benefit equally from the policy. This worked well for the Boiler Scrappage scheme, but it is vitally important that the lessons learned here are applied to any future schemes – for example the Renewable Heat Incentive. It may be easier for policy makers to just talk to the big players, but if they do, they will short-change not just the smaller installer, but also the consumer.