LOCAL MP CRITICAL OF SHORTCOMINGS OF WARM FRONT SCHEME
January 25, 2008 4:36 PM
Nick Harvey says:
'I and my colleagues in the Commons are becoming increasingly concerned about problems (in terms of unwelcome top up fees and the quality of the work) with the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme or Warm Front Scheme run by eaga plc funded by Defra.
'All contractors are supposed to be assessed against a rating system which includes customer service, professionalism and workmanship. Those who fall short of these standards are removed. However, I and many of my colleagues are seeing evidence to the contrary; I have seen some appallingly shoddy work.'
'When pressed last year the Government claimed that only 1% of jobs resulted in complaints, 96% of which were resolved. However, the Government subsequently revealed that since June 2005 there had been 4,418 complaints logged by Eaga with 1,760 up held; of these 2,963 were about installer companies, of which 1,390 were upheld.
'This month when Phil Woolas the current Environment Minister was asked for figures since June 2005 for the number of people in England being asked for top up fees, this totalled 90,789, meaning almost 17% of Warm Front grants were subject to excess charges - which is frankly not good enough.
'I will certainly be tackling the Government and the Parliamentary Warm Homes Group on this issue as it is clearly not being implemented in the manner it was intended.'
Further Information:
While the Government is currently reviewing Warm Front Grant limits it has no plans to collect top up fee figures from the scheme manager. In response to complaints about quality of work the Government claims the scheme manager of eaga plc inspects all central heating installations as well as a proportion of other completed work.
The Warm Front Grant provides a package of insulation and heating improvements to the value of £2,700 (or £4,000 if oil central heating is recommended). The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has over all responsibility for the initiative.
For additional information see:
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