Trade Only

One Person's View, But Most in the Industry Will Agree!

2011-12-21T12:27:00.003Z

Whilst the battle to make the powers-that-be understand that over-regulation is damaging to the whole heating and renewables industry continues, I am pleased to share the letter below with you. It is the view of just one person, but I know that it is typical of the opinion of many thousands of installers all over the country.

Sirs

Recently we decided to take the plunge and apply for MCS registration but the hidden costs, work and stress involved to comply with all the MCS requirements is such that we have been forced to withdraw our application.

The government’s most recent U-turn on feed in tariff prices which pulls the rug out from under the renewables sector’s feet, does nothing to instill any confidence in the sector whatsoever and I have to wonder just how serious our government are in aiming to meet the Kyoto agreement figures in 2020 since at present we are the 2^nd worst in the world with only 5% achieved?

It isn’t just the obvious membership and assessment costs involved but also the hidden training, lost revenue and bureaucratic costs as well as the intrusive nature of the yearly assessments, ongoing surveillance at all stages of each job, the level of paperwork involved, the environmental issues with creating so much paperwork, storage of the same, time/money lost through assessments, added stress and to be honest, for a small business with either one proprietor or married partners, internal review meetings which are rather pointless paper exercises.

In such small businesses, these procedures are done as a matter of course but not necessarily minuted or recorded; there simply aren’t enough hours in the day! If we are to take on another member of staff just to take on the extra paperwork involved, it rather defeats the object of trying to make a profit. All in all, the costs for a small business of say 8 employees; to remain compliant with MCS is over £5000 per year! This just isn’t viable.

There is no guarantee that there will be sufficient renewables work (certainly we haven’t had enough enquiries) to cover the extra man hours and cost of MCS registration let alone make any profit afterwards and it seems to be yet another serious hindrance to work which could be so easily avoided.

Paul Reeve of the ECA correctly identifies this increasing nightmare of certification and bureaucracy as a massive barrier which local contractors have no incentive to surmount. “People are already trained in this work and it would be irresponsible to burden them with further qualifications under the Green Deal. The government needs to know there is a ‘plan B’ in which the local contractors, rather than the major energy companies or retailers, offer a much more direct route to the homeowner.”

Mr Reeve is absolutely correct, we are here, waiting to promote renewables, trained, insured and often have reputable, well established and above all stable businesses which local people trust. We need to be given the freedom to do this work to a high standard (which the MCS does not address) for our customers without unnecessary financial and bureaucratic burdens.

Economic times are hard enough and we keep seeing new firms start up, clean up and go bust yet it is the small local businesses which are the stable back bone of this country. MCS asks for insurance to cover customer’s warranties should a firm go bust, this we can do so easily but it doesn’t stop the gravy train chasers going bump when the grants stop.

When will our government realize that we need to mobilize the whole of the heating and electrical industries small businesses to help the UK meet its Kyoto agreement quota?

Ironically MCS is THE SINGLE BIGGEST barrier to growth in this area. Appropriate for larger firms of 50+ employees but crippling for SMEs. PLEASE revoke this silly money-go-round and let us get on with the work of building our country.

J Farrer

Director

David A. Farrer Ltd

Microgeneration Strategy Recognises the Importance of Small Business

2011-06-22T13:47:00.003+01:00

DECC published the Microgeneration Strategy today.

http://www.decc.gov.uk/assets/decc/11/meeting-energy-demand/microgeneration/2015-microgeneration-strategy.pdf

In that document, the importance of small business is recognised in Action 25 and the explanation in clause 4.14.

Action 25

Industry bodies to reach out to the small installer community who are potential advocates of microgeneration technologies as part of their everyday business.

4.14 At present, small installer companies may be not be clarifying the case for microgeneration to potential consumers. The trade associations and other industry bodies have an ideal opportunity to work with their respective members to promote microgeneration. SMEs will want clear concise information about what the opportunities of microgeneration mean for them and how they can get involved.

Well, they have got this spot on, but smaller installers are not even talking microgeneration to potential consumers and they won’t until they feel able to get involved.

I absolutely agree with the sentiments of Action 25, but as it stands, the smaller installer community are not ready to be advocates, but quite the opposite.

See my blog Over-regulation is the Biggest Barrier to Renewable take-up

I believe my proposal to exempt small business from the QMS element, if implemented, will help this part of the strategy succeed.

Over-regulation is the Biggest Barrier to Renewable take-up

2011-05-27T19:03:00.004+01:00

We all know the environmental arguments in favour of installing renewable technologies, and I won’t repeat them here.

What is less widely understood is the business dynamics that will underpin the enormous change of scale required for renewable technologies to make a measurable impact on the energy used in our homes.

The Renewable Heat Incentive, (RHI) and other grants designed to stimulate take up of renewable technologies (RTs) all have the same caveat – to qualify, the installation must be undertaken by an MCS accredited installer.

At first sight, that sounds a reasonable requirement. After all, we don’t want a load of cowboys running round bringing the industry into disrepute, do we?

A little more digging, however, puts the matter in a new light. MCS accreditation has three elements. Firstly, there are checks on technical competence. So far, so good. Then there is the enforced membership of a group insurance scheme. Finally, and this is the problem bit, there is the imposition of a mandatory business process quality management scheme (QMS), similar in nature to ISO 9000.

The total cost of MCS accreditation varies, but estimates range from £2,500 to upwards of £5000 once all charges and working hours lost are factored in.

Why is that a problem? The natural constituency from which a large base of RT installers should be recruited is the existing group of plumbing, heating and building contractors. The vast majority of these firms are small businesses – from “one man bands” to small employers with two or three staff. Usually the business owner (or often his wife) does the paperwork in the evenings or at weekends.

These businesses are put off becoming accredited, both by the total costs and by the weight of paperwork required. The burden is simply too much to bear for a small company which is likely undertake only a handful of installations per year. To make matters worse, there is a danger that they won’t simply sit silently on the sidelines – they are likely to actively discourage their householder customers from including RTs in their refurbishments and extensions, because they know that they will not be able to carry out a project which requires MCS accreditation.

So how can we correct this? The simple answer is to exempt smaller businesses (with less than 5 employees) from the QMS element, so that they can focus on technical competence and safety. That’s the minimum guarantee that regulation ought to offer to the public. This will reduce both the cost and the administrative overhead for smaller installers, thereby encouraging them to register. Once that is dealt with, it is a matter for consumers to choose between the larger company, which may provide peace of mind (at a price!) or a smaller, local tradesman.

Government already recognises that regulatory requirements should be less burdensome for small businesses. A number of exemptions are already in force in respect of employment and health and safety regulations, so it should be a simple matter to extend the same exemptions to the QMS elements of MCS registration.

We currently have about 120,000 registered gas engineers. We only have 2,274* MCS accredited installers (covering all renewal technologies).

With these numbers, we simply cannot achieve the scale of RT installations that we need, and instead of creating an incentive for installers to train up and register, we have created the perverse situation which encourages them to discourage householders from considering the investment in green technologies.

This government talks a lot about the green agenda, encouraging small business, and deregulation. Slimming down MCS to a competence/safety based system for small business will tick all those boxes, with zero downside risk.

*statistic taken from www.microgenerationcertification.org, 5^th May 2011

UPDATE - 14th July 2011

Following consultation with a wide range of stakeholders, some concerns have been expressed that exempting smaller companies from the QMS elements of MCS could weaken consumer protection, and risk bringing the industry into disrepute. Whilst these concerns are understandable, we think that they are misplaced.

It is important to remember that consumer protection is properly covered by membership of the REAL Assurance Scheme, not by QMS. The REAL requirements are much more clearly written than QMS, and can be easily understood by consumer and installer alike. They cover mis-selling, the provision of technical information, allow for protection of vulnerable consumers and describe general good practice. Critically, they also provide a mechanism for conciliation, rectification and dispute resolution.

QMS tells people how to run their business. BPEC, C&G and other related qualifications teach people how to install systems correctly. REAL sets standards for how customers should be treated. The latter two are far more important than the former, and no-one is arguing that they should be scrapped.

We have not been able to find any critical area in the QMS element which would not be adequately covered for businesses of less than 5 employees either in the REAL Consumer Code, or in the general requirements, or in the technology-specific MIS series of documents. Should other stakeholders identify such a critical omission then it may be necessary to make a minor addition to one of the latter documents.

Do They Actually Know How Much it Costs?

2011-04-06T10:25:00.003+01:00

GUEST BLOGGER - Ray Stafford

I know that industry bodies like the CBI routinely gripe about the burden of regulation on business. It’s such a common complaint, that I suspect that most people just tune it out, as part of the background noise to be expected from that interest group.

Looking through today’s work, I was taken aback by three different tasks, all of which have regulatory implications and all of which consumed expensive and scarce resources.

First up – a meeting with our HR manager to discuss an employee who is approaching their 65^th birthday. We have never enforced the default retirement age, and have always allowed employees the same rights that they are now getting by legislation. However, we have had to overhaul our procedures to ensure that most elusive of targets - ”compliance”. Lets just make this clear – this has not benefitted the employee one jot. All it has done was cost an hour of time for two senior members of the management team.

Secondly – we have a successful branch which we want to expand. Fortunately, the building next door is vacant, so in two or three calls to the agent, we reached a deal on taking over the unit. This is clearly good news for everyone, particularly the local economy. This happened about a month ago. We want to join the two units together, by knocking a doorway through the wall between them. No problem with the landlord, but the local Building control need drawings in quadruplicate (seriously!), structural calculations, plus a fee for the privilege. It will take two blokes less than a day to make this doorway. So far the red tape has cost over £1000 and delayed the project by 4 weeks. Incidentally, although one of those sets of drawings will be sent to the fire brigade for comment, once the work is done we will still have to update our own fire risk assessment, because they don’t do those any more.

Just after I came off the phone from chasing that up, our Finance Director came into the office. She was querying some purchases of vehicles, computers and other assets acquired in the last quarter. The department of national statistics wants to know what we spent on these things in the period January – March 2011, AND IT WANTS TO KNOW BY 8^th APRIL! Since we won’t necessarily have the invoices for March purchases yet, we need to “estimate” it. So the figure will inevitably be wrong, but we are required by law to supply it.

All these things genuinely came up on one perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning, in a middle sized business. In between time, I managed to spend some time on running the actual business. It made a pleasant change.

I am sure that any individual piece of regulation can be defended in detail. The problem is that more are added each year than are taken away. It’s the cumulative burden that is so stifling – the ratchet that imposes “just a little” new burden every few months.

So here is my solution:

No new regulation should be imposed on businesses without primary legislation. Too much of this nonsense is imposed by un-accountable civil servants.

All regulations should have a sunset clause which causes them to lapse after 5 years. The House of Commons would have to actively vote to renew any specific regulations that it wanted to remain.

“Ah” I hear you say. “But that would be administratively burdensome, would waste the time of our legislators and stop them from doing their proper job!”

Maybe so. At least then they would know what it feels like!

Williams & Co appoint managing director

2011-03-25T16:05:00.002Z

Ray Stafford has been appointed as managing director of Williams & Co.

Mr Stafford has been with the company for 25 years, and until recently was commercial director. He will be responsible for the operational and commercial activities of the business.

He says “It will be a challenge and a pleasure to continue to develop the unique Williams brand and trading style through the next phase of expansion.”

Founder and former MD Mick Williams continues to be active in the business as Executive Chairman, taking specific responsibility for strategic relationships and for commercialising renewable technologies.

Williams & Co has 18 branches in Hampshire, Surrey, Sussex and Berkshire. A 19^th branch is due to open in Croydon in May 2011, with several more planned for the next two years.

Williams staff to receive an extra weeks pay in their March pay packet

2011-03-25T10:08:00.002Z

It is always nice to be able to make a positive announcement about employment or salary matters and this announcement is no exception

No-one can have failed to notice that inflation is on the rise, with food and fuel prices rising sharply in the last year.

Anyone who pays attention to the news will know that the outlook for the economy as a whole, and the construction sector in particular remains very unclear. Fragile economic growth, public sector cut-backs and high unemployment are not a great background for business planning.

Individuals and families all over the country are feeling the squeeze as inflation rises faster than wages.

We have been thinking about how this impacts on Williams & Co staff. On the one hand, the economic outlook is very challenging, but on the other hand this company has recently been out-performing both competitors and the wider economy. A big part of this success is due to the skills, commitment and effort of the people that work here.

So the first message is “Thank You” for helping drive the company forward during difficult times.

However, we know that you can’t take a “Thank You” to the supermarket, or use it to pay at the petrol pumps. We have therefore decided to make a one-off, discretionary payment to all staff who have been with the company for more than 4 months.

Staff who joined before 31^st March 2010 will receive an extra weeks pay in their March pay packet.* Staff who joined between April 1^st 2010 and Nov 30^th 2010 will receive a smaller payment, proportionate to their length of service.

This one-off payment does not affect any bonus that we may pay later in the year, and it does not replace our normal review of salaries which we will continue to undertake. It is simply a gesture from the company to help staff in difficult financial times.

We hope that it takes a bit of pressure off your personal budgets. Thank you for helping to put the business in a position where it can afford to do this.

Mick, Rachel and Ray.

*Unfortunately this payment will be subject to the usual tax and National Insurance.

Vacancy – IT and Technical Services Technician

2011-03-16T10:34:00.002Z

Our IT and Technical Services department is responsible for specifying, installing and maintaining the company’s IT systems, telecoms equipment, CCTV installations, website and print, fax and copy facilities across 19 sites in Southern England.

The Role: Based in Fareham, Hants and reporting to the IT & Technical Services manager, you will be involved in all aspect of the department. This includes the installation and configuration of new equipment and training users, as well as maintaining and upgrading existing equipment & systems. You will also be helping to provide telephone and on-site support to approximately 100 users across all departments, and liaising with equipment suppliers, external contractors and service providers.

The Person: Educated to at least A level standard, the successful candidate will have experience of administering multi-site, multi-server networks, Windows Server 2003 and will have intuitive problem solving skills. Experience with website management, Linux, MySQL, Visual Studio 2010, Crystal Reports, telecom systems and CCTV systems would be advantageous, but we don’t expect you to know everything about everything at the start! A full driving licence is essential, as is a willingness to work flexible hours when required.

The Package: £18k - £22k depending on skills and experience, plus profit related bonus. Home broadband, landline and mobile telephone after a qualifying period. A vehicle will be provided when working away from our Fareham office. The company will also support your continuous professional development plan with internal or external training opportunities.

Interested?: Email with a current CV to terry.rogers@williams.uk.com or download an application form from www.williams.uk.com

Boiler Scrappage - An Open Goal for Osborne

2011-02-01T14:36:00.006Z

GUEST BLOGGER - Ray Stafford

As the chancellor wrestles with planning his “budget for growth” he will face one problem over and over again. How does he reconcile the needs to constrain public spending with the need to foster growth, particularly in those sectors which suffered a contraction in Q4 of last year?

At the same time, he has his Lib-dem allies to keep onside, and those pesky CO2 reduction targets haven’t gone away.

He also wants to boost consumer spending, but not in the kind of way that fuels the sort of private debt bubble that caused so much pain last time around. It would be a poor recovery that depended on sub-prime credit card debt funding ever more imported flat screen TVs!

So how does Mr Osborne square the circle?

One easy suggestion is to revive the hyper-popular boiler scrappage scheme.

Firstly, it is largely revenue neutral. By the time you account for the VAT on the sale and installation, plus the taxes paid by the boiler manufacturer, merchant and installer, the treasury is probably a few quid up on the £400 subsidy it puts in, so no harm is done to the deficit reduction strategy.

Secondly, it stimulates British manufacturing and the hard-hit construction sector.

The third benefit is that it encourages the householder or landlord to spend, but as a constructive investment, rather than as a transient bit of hedonism. The energy savings generated mean that the consumer will have that money back to spend again over the next few years, stimulating sustainable growth.

In terms of the environment, those CO2 reduction targets aren’t going away just because the UK economy is having a rough time! Whilst upgrading inefficient household boilers isn’t going to solve the problem on its own, it is at least a big stride in the right direction.

Finally, it really is a quick and easy thing to do. The mechanisms are already tried and tested from last year. The scheme went very well – the only complaints were that it was on too small a scale. - so a boiler scrappage Mk2 could be implemented in just a few weeks

As a side issue, and call me an old cynic if you like, but the original scrappage scheme was championed by Lib Dem MPs, who contributed by far the most signatures to the early day motion supporting the scheme. Lib Dems were pretty much marginalised at the time (pre-general election). Now things have changed somewhat, and Osborne may be looking for something on which he can “agree with Nick”.

So Many Memories in Such a Small Box!

2010-11-05T16:17:00.006Z

Last week, in an attempt to de-clutter the office, I checked the contents of a box file that had been hanging around for ages. I was staggered to find that it contained the records for my very first year of trading, including stock records, petty cash receipts, bank statements and, most importantly, the Simplex D book in which I recorded my takings, payments and cash and bank records.

Yes, the memories did come flooding back!

On 1^st May 1972 Williams & Co opened for business from a corner shop in Ernest Road, Portsmouth. I took no cash at all in the first week, but I took the grand sum of £5.70 on the Monday and £6.16 on the Friday of the second week – total takings for the first month? £46.32!!!!

It makes fascinating reading in places. First class stamps were 3p and petrol was 35p a GALLON! My first ever delivery vehicle was a Vauxhall 101 estate car with a roof rack which cost me £250.

A white basin and pedestal cost less than £5, a pan and cistern was just over £6 and a toilet seat was under a £1. Interestingly, some things like end feed copper fittings and radiator valves were pretty much the same price then as they are now.

Seeing it in black and white, reminded me of things that I had completely forgotten. For example, there was no such thing as VAT when I started - we had purchase tax!! VAT didn't come in until April 1973 and I remember having to cope with some quite complex calculations on changeover day!

I used to close for an hour at lunchtime, which is when I would do any deliveries or rush off to buy something that I needed. That reminds me, I used to be able to get three complete bathroom suites into that old estate car along with pipes or copper tube on the roof rack!

Oh, and we didn't have calculators either – I had to add up or work out discounts in my head until I bit the bullet and bought a second hand mechanical adding machine for £25.

Of the twenty or so account customers that I had in that first year, six are still customers, the sons of another are customers now and the grandson of yet another is also a current customer.

There's a lot of memories in that one little box of papers!!

A CORGI Award...and a Stark Warning

2010-09-22T16:42:00.010+01:00

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.

CLIMATE CHANGE It's YOUR fault or is it?

2009-11-05T12:12:00.006Z

Regular visitors will know that I recently started a campaign to get the government to work with boiler manufacturers to create a Boiler Scrappage scheme.

The campaign has received wide support from industry, environmentalists and, increasingly, cross-party politicians. If you haven't already, you can read about it and give your support, if you think it's a good idea, on the campaign website http://reheatbritain.org.uk

An unexpected side effect of my campaigning has been to make me take much more of an interest in environmental matters. It has also made me take more of an interest in politics, but that's a story for another day. So, back to the environment....

I have noticed that, as well as Climate Change increasingly dominating the headlines, there appears to be a growing number of people who are doubting that man's carbon dioxide emissions are likely to have a significant effect.

Being a curious sort of fellow, I searched the internet for proof, one way or the other. I sort of wish that I hadn't bothered. My google searches, however I mixed my search terms, almost always resulted in links that were either too scientific or lead me to blogs or articles that were very one-sided, but without much reasoning.

The Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) report came to the conclusion "Most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations".

I'm afraid, ladies and gentlemen, that means you and me!!

Thousands of scientists from all over the world contribute to the work of the IPCC and I can't find anything similar published by any group of scientists who just don't believe it, although I would still be interested to find something.

However, governments all over the world are clearly concerned about man's effect on climate change, so until the IPCC conclusions are dis-proved and governments become less concerned, I'll stick to the opinion that reducing CO2 emissions is urgent and important.

Which makes it all the more sensible that the Boiler Scrappage scheme becomes a reality, NOW!

Isn't it Time for Mr Brown to Get off his Bum and Make it Happen?

2009-10-29T11:22:00.005Z

The call for a Boiler Scrappage scheme is getting louder by the day.

The CORGI Trust is calling for a Scrappage scheme, particularly on safety grounds, but also recognising the massive energy saving and reduction in CO2 emmissions.

The Committee for Climate Change are calling for 12 million old boilers to be replaced with energy efficient condensing boilers by 2020.

At current prices, the Energy Saving Trust estimate that a 3 bed semi household could save £235 a year by upgrading to the latest boiler and controls. However, Ofgem has recently warned of potential energy price increases of up to 60% and also has concerns about the continuity of energy supply, making it even more important to save domestic energy usage.

The Mayor of London recently included a call for a Boiler Scrappage scheme in his draft Air Quality Strategy as upgrading to condensing boilers would massively reduce pollutants in his city.

ALL sectors of the heating industry, manufacturers, merchants and installers, are firmly behind the campaign as are leading environmentalists. Check out Reheat BRITAIN to see the strength of support.

The growing political support is truly cross-party. As I write this update, more than 50 MPs from 6 different parties have signed the Parliamentary Early Day Motion supporting the campaign and many Councillors of all persuasions have signed the Number 10 petition.

Joan Ruddock MP, the Minister for Energy and Climate Change, has also recently backed the campaign.

Government has already committed vast sums of money to enable it to reach its' own CO2 reduction targets and energy suppliers are already committed to spend money to reduce energy usage. A Boiler Scrappage scheme will help achieve both reductions, so where better to spend some of that money?

Climate Change has been a major subject for discussion for months, but it has barely been out of the headlines recently - Greenpeace protesters, the recent Blog Action day, the forthecoming Copenhagen talks etc.

Climate change
Energy security
Lower gas bills
CO2 reduction
Improve Air quality
Stimulate industry
The dangers of carbon monoxide
Fuel poverty

A Boiler Scrappage scheme ticks all the boxes!

I realised this a few months ago and got off my bum and started to try to make it happen. All the aforementioned eminent people and organisations agree that it should happen.

Isn't it about time Mr Brown and the Government got off their bums to make sure it happens?

I Don't Believe That They Can Ignore It!

2009-10-15T10:23:00.005+01:00

The Reheat Britain Campaign, which calls for the government to work with manufacturers of central heating boilers to create a Boiler Scrappage scheme, started with a humble petition on the number10.gov.uk website.

Today it is so much more than that. You only have to check out Reheat Britain, the campaign website, to appreciate the massive support it has received from industry, environmentalists and, well, almost anyone else who hears about it.

In the last week or so, the subjects of Climate Change and Energy have been hogging the headlines notably the Ofgem warning of massive rises in energy prices and the need to spend up to £200Bn on infrastructure, the conclusion of the Committee for Climate Change (CCC) that the uk needs a "step change" in policies if it is to meet it's own climate targets and the publication of the Mayor of London's draft Air Quality Strategy.

So what has all this got to do with Reheat Britain, you may ask - well, I'll tell you...

The Energy Saving Trust (EST) estimate that replacing an old Band G boiler (approx 65% efficient) with a new Band A condensing boiler (over 90% efficient) and controls in just one 3 bed semi could stop 1,300kg of carbon dioxide spewing into the atmosphere. Yes, that is 1.3 tonnes of CO2 saved every year from just one house. That is why the CCC are calling for 12 million old boilers to be replaced by 2022.
Step up to the plate, The Boiler Scrappage scheme!

If the quality of air is not improved rapidly, the UK is in danger of being fined £300m by the EU. New boilers are more efficient, but they are also low NOx compared to old boilers. That is why Policy 9 of the Mayor of London's draft Air Quality Strategy includes "working with central government to develop a scrappage scheme for older, inefficient boilers"
Step up to the plate, The Boiler Scrappage scheme!

Ofgem suggests that household energy bills will increase by between 14% and 23% by 2020, but warn that they could increase by up to 60% in 2016, before falling back. The EST estimate that, with gas currently priced at 3.80p/Kwh, the householder in our 3 bed semi could save £235 a year when his old boiler is replaced. Energy price rises would make that saving even more.
Step up to the plate, The Boiler Scrappage scheme!

The construction industry generally and the heating industry in particular have been hit very badly in this recession with another 61,000 jobs lost in the three months to July this year. Any scheme that can also stimulate demand is welcomed by industry and is supported by the Federation of Small Businesses.
Step up to the plate, The Boiler Scrappage scheme!

The Reheat Britain campaign is gaining support all the time and so it should. It ticks so many boxes that I just don't believe that they can ignore it!

Take a look for yourself http://reheatbritain.org.uk and don't forget to sign the petition while you're there!

(Posted in support of Blog Action Day)

How Could The BBC Get So Many Things Wrong?

2009-09-11T11:48:00.011+01:00

We had heard that Alan Ball, managing director of PTS, had been interviewed about the Boiler Scrappage petition for a story on the BBC2, Working Lunch programme. We waited, with keen anticipation, for the first national coverage for the campaign until it was aired in yesterday's show.

What a disappointment! The whole story was given a bit of a negative slant, except for the interview with Alan Ball which was excellent.

After some talk about Comet offering a discount, they opened with "It's not just retailers, though, jumping at the scrappage idea, now plumbers want a cash for old boilers scheme AND they want the taxpayer to pay for it!"

WHAT? Where the hell did they dream all that up from?

First of all, I am the originator of that petition and I am not a plumber. I am the MD of a plumbers merchant and, as such, am very aware of how much more efficient modern condensing boilers are than the boilers we seek to replace. I know that the scheme could stop millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere. I have knowledge of boilers, but I am NOT a plumber!

Next, I have never said that I want the taxpayer to pay for it and neither has anyone else to my knowledge. If they had taken the trouble to read my petition, they would have seen that I am calling on the government to work with boiler manufacturers to create such a scheme, not to pay for it.

The government has already committed large sums of taxpayer's money in order to reach their reduction targets - maybe using some here would be a good boost to those reductions. In other similar schemes, energy suppliers have partly funded them and in the car scheme, manufacturers partly funded it. However it may eventually be funded, I have NEVER suggested that the taxpayer should pay for it!

Talking, next, about new boilers, they came up with this little beauty "Costing around £3,000 a time, many people are choosing, instead, to repair their existing ones"

I wish I could sell boilers at £3,000 a time! Band A condensing boilers, the most efficient on the market, don't cost anywhere near £3,000. The whole job may cost around £2,000 depending on the boiler and a site survey (according to a few heating engineers I asked this afternoon), but to suggest that a new boiler costs around £3,000 was just wrong.

Next, they announced "Now the industry wants the government to give sales a boost, by introducing a scrappage scheme, giving householders a £500 grant.."

By this time, I am leaping up and down like a demented monkey!!!

I am NOT asking the government to give sales a boost, I'm asking them to work with boiler manufacturers to create a scrappage scheme and I have NEVER put a monetary value to it.

It's all in the petition or on the campaign website, had they taken the trouble to read about it. The main theme is environmental and energy saving and that is what made me think of it in the first place. This government has targets to reach and this scheme will help a lot.

Yes, it will have some effect to boost demand for boilers, but don't forget that the construction industry is one of the hardest hit in this recession. A good side effect, wouldn't you say?

Another important factor is that the householder will save money on their gas bills, which, although important now, may be even more important later if the price rises. Another good side effect, I'm sure you will agree.

This campaign has received support from all sectors, but particularly from people concerned for the environment, so for the BBC to suggest that the petition is all about boosting sales was disappointing, to say the least.

Thank goodness Alan Ball was featured - he said it exactly as it is!

After watching the show, I was chomping at the bit to flash an email off to them at the speed of light, but, after chatting to one or two people I decided to calm down a bit first. I did have a bit of an open rant on Twitter, a private rant, also on Twitter, several rants at work and my poor wife had me ranting down the phone at her...

By late afternoon, I was calm enough to put together a coherent email, which was duly sent at about 5.50 and returned undelivered at 6.25 pm.

I thought that I must have got the email address wrong, so I used the link on their website to try again at 6.50 and that was also returned undelivered at 7.15 pm.

I tried again from my home pc later that evening with the same result. ARGHHHH !!!

I did eventually get it to them this morning and duly got a reply an hour or so later. It said "We do read all your emails but unfortunately we get so many that we can't answer each one personally"

Ah well, they do say any publicity is good publicity, I suppose. It just would have been nice if they had got their facts right!

A Boiler Scrappage Scheme - The Story So Far!

2009-09-05T15:30:00.021+01:00

As soon as the Car Scrappage scheme was announced, I thought that it would be an even better idea to have a Boiler Scrappage scheme.

After all, there is estimated to be more than 4.5 million old inefficient boilers still in use that are officially rated at less than 70% efficient. Very many of these will be even less efficient, depending on their condition and service history. Replacing these old inefficient boilers with modern condensing boilers and controls will save millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide from spewing into the atmosphere each year and this could go a long way to helping the government to achieve it's reduction targets.

As everyone knows, construction has been particularly badly hit in this recession and a scheme such as this would benefit the heating sector of the industry by creating demand and helping to keep thousands of industry people from redundancy. Rising unemployment has a double whammy effect for the country as unemployed people don't pay taxes, but they do receive increased benefits.

Lastly, householders would benefit by saving cash on their gas bills every single year. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that an average household can save about £250 a year, so it is not to be sniffed at.

Back in May the very first posting to my new blog asked 'Let's have a Boiler Scrappage Scheme' and then, in June, I read an article about how Worcester Bosch was also calling for a scrappage scheme.

"That's it", I thought to myself, "Get off of your bum and do something about it!" So, I started a petition on the number10 website boilerscrappage

It had a fairly low key start, with family, friends and Williams & Co staff giving it a boost, until I started to mention it on Twitter. Since then, it has had enthusiastic support from the online trade press, particularly Fiona Horne (@feehorne) and Ellie Dawes (@mrsjelly) who have encouraged and supported me from day one. Thank you, ladies!

Through Twitter, I had an offer of help from Sian Berry, (@sianberry) who was the Green Party candidate for the position of Mayor of London last year and is an experienced campaigner. I thought carefully about it for about 2 seconds and said "Yes, please!" Sian brings to the campaign, many skills and contacts that I don't have and we have also been lucky enough to enlist the help of Gary Dunion (@garydunion) as our Press Officer. I am very happy to have the help of Sian & Gary while we work to bring this campaign to a successful conclusion.

The first job for the team was to create a dedicated website and that they did in just a few days. Take a look at it here: reheatbritain

I'm chuffed to bits that we have more than 350 signatures as I write this update, with support from all sectors of the heating industry and growing support from environmentalists.

The MD of PTS, Alan Ball, has signed and PTS have issued a press release supporting the petition. Carl Arntzen, the Worcester Sales Director has signed and they are going to feature the petition in their newsletters to installers and merchants and Charlie Mullins, MD of Pimlico Plumbers has signed and pledged his support.

This is just the start! The website was only launched a couple of days ago and I am looking forward to next week when I hope to reach the magic number of 500 signatures which will usually ensure a response to a petition from the Prime Minister, one of his officers or a minister.

This campaign has come a long way since my first blog in May. We are well on the way to my first target of signatures, we have a brilliant Campaign Manager and Press Officer, a pretty damn cool website and lots of support from diverse sections of the community.

BRING IT ON!

My 'Boiler Scrappage Scheme' Petition is now live

2009-07-22T11:30:00.003+01:00

My 'Boiler Scrappage Scheme' petition is now live on the Number 10 e-petitions website:
Click here to go straight to the petition!

According to the 'Energy Saving Trust' - "If everyone in the UK with gas central heating installed a high efficiency condensing boiler, we would save enough energy to heat 3.4 million homes for a whole year and save around 13 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide".

The idea is to persuade the government to work with boiler manufacturers to create a scrappage scheme similar to the recently introduced car scrappage scheme, but this time for old central heating boilers.

It is my belief that such a scheme would be even more successful than the car scheme in that it would help the government to achieve it's carbon reduction targets, it would help boiler manufacturers, distributors and installers by stimulating demand and it would help householders by saving them money on their gas bills.

Please support this idea, by signing the petition here:
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/boilerscrappage

Would You Actually Care if We Lost 1% of Agricultural Land to Create New Homes?

2009-07-17T14:11:00.004+01:00

Every time I travel any distance by car, I am struck by the vast amount of green land there is between towns. Prompted by a question posed on Twitter by George Clarke, presenter of Channel 4’s The Home Show, my curiosity got the better of me and I did some digging.

I found that 72% of England is actually agricultural land and another 8% is forest and woodland. Of the agricultural land, which is some 23,250,000 acres, over half is grass and rough grazing.
http://www.defra.gov.uk/environment/statistics/land/lduse.htm

I also learnt about the town of Cambourne and the proposed new town of Northstowe, both in Cambridgeshire.
http://www.cambourne-uk.com
http://www.northstowe.uk.com

Each, it seems, has a core site of just over 1000 acres, but the number of new homes to be built differ dramatically. Cambourne will have about 4,000 new homes while the Northstowe proposal is for nearly 10,000. Each will be completely self contained with shops, schools, libraries and business areas and, importantly, both will return acres of land to green and open space for leisure and play areas and both will create new habitat for local wildlife. Cambourne has reserved 60% of land to green and open areas and Northstowe about 35%.

While researching I found myself liking the Cambourne model a lot, so I have made assumptions based more on this than the Northstowe proposal.

OK, so here goes!

Let's suppose that we allocated 225,000 of our 23,000,000 acres for new towns built closely to the Cambourne model. Staggeringly, I calculate that we could build ONE MILLION new homes and return 125,000 acres back to green and open space for everyone to enjoy.

On these calculations we would have used 0.0097% of our agricultural land, yes that's less than 1%, and solved our housing crisis, our construction industry crisis and probably have solved our rising unemployment crisis.

Considering all of the benefits, would anybody really miss the one percent of our agricultural land?

A Happy Ending for Fixtures & Fittings Number 3024

2009-06-24T12:06:00.006+01:00

I walked out of the warehouse this morning to find that somebody had thrown out a tatty set of drawers.

What that somebody didn't know was that the tatty set of drawers, so callously discarded, was my first ever fixture and fitting purchased for the business way back in 1972.

Somebody had given me a desk, but it only had one drawer so I went to the local 'Whitewood Centre' and bought this - I had intended to paint it, but somehow never got round to it!

The memories came flooding back, of course. The mechanical adding machine sat on my desk. The 2oz Golden Virginia tin that was my first ever cash tin. All the cheap bulky stuff that filled my shelves to make it look as if I had plenty of stock.

That was it! I wasn't going to let it be thrown away - I'm sure that there is a good few years of life left in my trustee set of drawers. As I picked it up to carry it back into the warehouse, somebody said "Mick. What are you going to do with it?" Smart Arse! Of course, he was right - I don't really have a use for it, so I sadly put it back by the rubbish skip and turned to walk back to my office. Just then, one of the lads walked out and said " Oh that's handy, I can make use of that in the office at the back of the warehouse.

YES! Fixture & Fitting number 3024 is back on the books!

I'm So Glad I Asked!

2009-06-11T16:03:00.008+01:00

Half the mobile phones in the building which are on the O2 network lost their signal today, but the other half were fine. I went onto the O2 website looking for help, couldn't find anything about service issues.

I asked @O2 on Twitter where I can get information about loss of service about half an hour ago and got no reply, so I tried to 'Ask Lucy', the virtual assistant on the web site for help. I should point out that my 'rubbish' comment is in reply to the question "How did I do?"

Here is a transcript of the conversation:

Our Answer:

Hi Im Lucy, how can I help you today?

You asked:

Hi Half the people in the building have lost the O2 signal the other
half are fine. Where can I find out about service issues?

Our Answer:

For information on lost or stolen phones please click here.

You asked:

rubbish

Our Answer:

Im sorry you feel that way, is there anything I can do to help?

You asked:

no signal is my problem

Our Answer:

If you would like more information on network coverage in your area please use the link below:Network coverage

You asked:

rubbish again

Our Answer:

Im sorry you feel that way, is there anything I can do to help?

You asked:

I have no signal

Our Answer:

If you would like more information on network coverage in your area please use the link below:Network coverage

You asked:

my signal has gone

Our Answer:

Im sorry but I have not fully understood your question. Please see the FAQs to the right for more information on Account Services. Otherwise please rephrase your question.

You asked:

lost signal

Our Answer:

If your mobile has been lost or stolen you'll need to contact us as soon as possible, so that we can bar the service immediately and minimise any stress caused. We can also replace your SIM card free of charge.Pay & Go Customer Service:08705 678 678Pay Monthly Customer Service:0870 241 0202Alternatively if you would like to email us then please use the 'Lost and stolen form' link below and be sure to include the following information: Date and time lost/stolen:Alternative contact number:Lost and Stolen FormIs your Phone covered by insurance?YesNo

You asked:

change_Context

Our Answer:

You asked:

my phone doesnt work

Our Answer:

I know youre talking about your mobile phone but Im not sure of your exact enquiry. Please rephrase your question or take a look at the FAQs to the left.

You asked:

This service is no help at all!

Our Answer:

I know youre talking about services but Im not sure of your exact enquiry. Please rephrase your question or take a look at the FAQs to the left.

Good, huh? I still don't have a signal, by the way!

'Lord' Alan Sugar - A Strange Affair

2009-06-08T11:06:00.007+01:00

I don't understand what is going on here.

Sir Alan Sugar is to become Lord Sugar and the government's new 'Business and Enterprise' tsar, as well as continuing to star in the BBC show, The Apprentice.

As I understand it, he already advises Downing Street, so why there is a need for him to become a peer to continue as an advisor, I don't know. He claims that the role will be politically neutral and that he won't follow Labour's lead on voting. Hang on! He will be a Labour Peer and surely expected to take the party whip. Not that Sir Alan is familiar with the technicalities of the whip, he claimed in a BBC interview......

The Tories, unsurprisingly, are up in arms. They claim that Sir Alan's new role is incompatible with his job at the BBC and that he should choose one or the other. I'm blowed if I can understand why his role as the star of a game show would clash with his role as an advisor unless, of course, he is actually expected to be more than just an advisor.

Come to think of it, I'm not sure Sir Alan fully understands what is going on either!

Anyway, in my opinion, it would be a shame if political pressure forced him to turn down the advisory position in favour of The Apprentice, which is what I suspect he would do if it came down to a choice between the two.

Grrr!! Who do salesmen that say "I'm not trying to sell you anything" think they are kidding?

2009-05-22T15:35:00.002+01:00

Any salesman or person trying to arrange a sales appointment with me who tells me that he that he is "not trying to sell me anything" has as much chance of having a meaningful conversation with me as Labour have of winning the next election.

If they are on the phone, they usually say something like "Good morning, Michael, How are you today?" Well, that gets up my nose straight away because everyone who knows me calls me Mick and I was alright until he called!!! Then he proceeds to tell me that he's not trying to sell me anything!

WHAT?? Does he think I'm an idiot? Does he seriously expect me to believe, that when he wants an appointment with me so that he can tell me about his wonderful product or service, that he is not going to try to sell it to me?

Slightly more annoying are the people who knock on my door, usually while I am cooking dinner or helping to get the kids to bed, who is not trying to sell me cladding, double glazing or solar power.

I think I might get a baseball bat and put it by the front door so that I can pick it up and explain to them that I'm not going to hit them with it. I wonder if they would believe me any more than I believe them?

Let's have a 'Boiler Scrappage Scheme'

2009-05-20T15:57:00.002+01:00

According to the 'energy saving trust' http://tinyurl.com/opvkg4 "If everyone in the UK with gas central heating installed a high efficiency condensing boiler, we would save enough energy to heat 3.4 million homes for a whole year and save around 13 million tonnes of Carbon Dioxide". The householder could also save around a third on their heating bills.

Now, bearing in mind that the construction industry has been one of the worst hit in this recession, wouldn't it be a good idea for the government to create a 'Boiler Scrappage Scheme'?

This would be an extremely 'Green' proposal and would benefit boiler manufacturers, plumbers merchants, installers and the householder - you might even get the manufacturers to partly fund it, just as the car manufacturers have done for the Car Scrappage Scheme.

History

2008-10-23T10:50:00.000+01:00

I started Williams & Co in 1972 as a specialist Plumbing & Heating merchant, trading out of a corner shop in Ernest Road, Portsmouth. We became a Private Limited Company in 1984, and the Portsmouth premises have been relocated twice, first to New Road, Portsmouth, and later to Claybank Road, Portsmouth where we are still trading today.

During the late 1980's and early 1990's, four more branches were added in Fareham (which is also home to our Head Office), Petersfield, Southampton and Gosport. Further expansion saw us open branches in Littlehampton, Bognor, Chichester and Winchester. In 2007 we opened branches in Guildford and Aldershot and in 2008 Andover and Brighton took our total to fourteen.