The Farmers Mart Oct-Nov 2017 - Issue 53 | Page 16

Farm News
Turning up the heat
for rural homes
» » FARMS AND RURAL BUILDINGS OFTEN
have old and inefficient heating systems
which run on oil, kerosene or liquefied
petroleum gas (LPG). Rural Funding Services
is a business which unlocks government
cash to improve these systems – so saving
farmers significant amounts of money.
The tradition of a cast iron range used for
heating and cooking has been at the heart of
many a rural home for hundreds of years. But,
although they may be much-loved, plenty of
these old faithfuls are creaky to say the least
and not working as well as they should.
There is government money available to
help make these systems greener and more
efficient by integrating modern heating and
insulation techniques.
Rural Funding Services, based in Redcar
in North Yorkshire, is a business set up
exclusively to deal with ECO funding in rural
areas in England, Scotland and Wales. The
business walks householders through the
process of applying for a grant - a service
which is completely free.
Funding available depends on how
inefficient a particular property is and it’s
size, but homes can be eligible for sums up
to £10,000. To qualify, a person must live
in their own home or one they rent from a
private landlord, and they must receive a
state benefit such as Child/Working Tax,
Employment and Support Allowance, Job
Seeker’s Allowance, Income Support or
Universal Credit.
The money for grants comes from the
‘big six’ energy suppliers who are obliged to
make a proportion of their profits available
for measures like energy efficient boilers,
cavity wall insulation, solid wall insulation
and loft insulation.
Savings in heating bills depend on factors
such as how well insulated a home is and
how much energy is used. But any saving
is important when the cost of maintaining
and repairing an old system can run into
thousands of pounds.
Laura Bragg, funding manager at Rural
Funding Services, said it was keen to get
its message out to householders and was
doing so via its website, social media,
leafleting and outbound tele-marketing. She
said: “It’s our job to identify people who may
qualify for the varying pots of government
funding to improve the energy efficiency of
their home.
“Because it’s free, some people think
it’s too good to be true and don’t actually
believe us, so a big part of our job is
persuading them! But we know there is
a need out there. Many people just can’t
afford to do the work themselves when they
have got big AGAs and Rayburns. They also
love their stoves and are worried that we
are going to take them out. We don’t – we
would, for example, just decommission the
boiler part of an AGA, and put in a more
efficient boiler for heating, like a Worcester
Bosch Heatslave or Danesmoor, allowing
the AGA to still do the cooking as it normally
would. Householders using solid fuel central
heating can also benefit from the scheme by
upgrading the heating system to oil.
“For these big farmhouses, replacing a
‘G’ rated boiler with an ‘A’ rated boiler could
save about £300-£500 a year. Installing up
to 300mm of loft insulation where there was
none before would also save about £175-
£250 a year.”
Only accredited, professional installers
who have been properly vetted and who
have been granted funding to carry out
installations under the Affordable Warmth
Scheme are allowed to carry out the work.
Rural Funding Services’ main partner
is Borthwicks Heating and Insulation
who install all the oil, LPG boilers and loft
insulation.
Laura added: “We do have some
householders asking if we can just give
them the money to have the work done
privately - but we can’t do that! We have
to go out and check that the work can
be done, take photos of all the radiators
and brick work and issue an Energy
Performance Certificate (EPC). Boilers also
have to be over five years old to be eligible.
After that’s all been passed it goes to the
installer and is booked in.
“When we make contact with a
householder over the phone we have to
take down which credit or benefit they
claim and that is sent off to the Department
for Work and Pensions (DWP) to be
verified.”
Rural Funding Services works all over
the country but has recently carried out
a lot of installations in Wales, Devon and
Cornwall. Laura said: “We work on all kinds
of properties from cottages to four, five and
six-bedroom homes. I phoned someone up
the other day and he was in an eight-bed
property with all his family living there.”
The company is continuing to get its
message out, increasingly via social media
and its website. So far, Rural Funding
Services has helped around 5,000
householders to benefit from the scheme.
Laura added: “The amount of funding that
has been available is £2.76 billion on this
scheme which is called ECO 2T – this has
been running since the start of April 2017
and will be running until end of September
2018. Then ECO 3 will launch but we don’t
know too much about that yet so it’s best if
people get their applications in as soon as
possible.”
http://ruralfundingservices.co.uk/contact-us/
16 Oct/Nov 2017 www.farmers-mart.co.uk