This is encouraging for the oil sector and shows that oil is an attractive option, especially given current low oil prices.
David Blevings, Ireland Manager, OFTEC said: “The boiler replacement scheme has been an excellent initiative and it’s good to see so many householders benefiting from a new condensing boiler. The savings are worth noting as well. An average annual saving of two tonnes of CO2 per install gives a total saving of c.54,000 tonnes for the scheme as a whole”.
Looking at financial savings, the average saving per household was £384 per annum. This ranged from £273 for an oil install without controls to £407 for an oil install with controls.
On the cost of installation, oil fared well with a breakdown of technician invoices showing that the typical average cost in 2015/16 of an oil to oil conversion with no controls was £1,643.59. A conversion from oil to oil with controls was £1,916.12. This compared to a conversion from oil to natural gas at £2,311.08 and upgrading an existing natural gas boiler cost £1,911.97.
“There are clear environmental and financial benefits in funding such a scheme again and perhaps Governments in other areas of the UK and Ireland can learn from DSD’s success. Such an initiative is very affordable for house holders, due in part, to the low capital cost of oil boilers and achievable with a level of grant assistance of c.£1,000 pounds per household, leaving consumers with substantially reduced home heating costs and the country promoting same with a large reduction in carbon emissions – a clear ‘win win’ for Governments targeting carbon reduction”, added David.
Ends.