Healthy Housing: Boiler Health Check & Boiler Repair Scheme

Background

Miss W is 35 years old and lives in a 3-bed semi-detached property in Gedling, Nottinghamshire. She has mobility problems and struggles with her mental health. Her daughter is housebound due to having autism and ADHD, meaning that the household has a high fuel use and struggle with a low income.

Free Boiler Health Check

In September 2024, Miss W was offered a free Boiler Health Check as she was eligible.

The free Boiler Health Check means a gas safe engineer will check the boiler for water leaks and damage, complete a safety inspection to check gas usage, and check that no harmful gases are emitted.

Boiler Repair Scheme

Several months later, Miss W was experiencing problems with her boiler as it kept switching itself on and off and leaking water through the walls.

As a result, the house was cold and suffered with damp and mould. Miss W informed NEP that her house was “really cold.”

She said, “I wasn’t getting the full benefit of the heating because of issues with my boiler.” NEP’s PSO advised Miss W that the Boiler Repair Scheme could help and would also lower the costs of any essential repairs.

Improvements needed to be made to the boiler to resolve the damp and mould

Nottingham Energy Partnership arranged to have Miss W’s boiler repaired.

At the start of the process, Miss W paid a £40 call-out fee for a heating engineer to provide a quote for the boiler repair. The engineer visited and quoted £584 for the repairs. As Miss W was struggling with her financial situation, NEP were able to source hardship funding to alleviate the cost of the boiler repair.

Gas Safe provided £120 for the boiler repair and £80 for the Boiler Health Check. An additional £292 was sourced from another funding organisation. Miss W contributed £172 towards the repair, saving £492 overall in repair costs.

In addition to the savings made on repairs, the client now saves approximately £20 a week in heating costs and uses the heating “for about three hours less a day.”

Due to the household’s health conditions, the scheme has been key in improving health and wellbeing. Miss W said, “the whole house was very cold, so it’s definitely made a big difference.”

She was also pleased with the service from the engineer: “I’m really grateful for the service. Ashley (heating engineer) was very professional. There was an issue with the boiler, but he came the next day, checked it without any extra cost.”

Additionally, Ashley changed the batteries in Miss W’s programmer to help her better manage the heating.

National Energy Foundation Fuel Vouchers

To help lower the cost of her energy bills, NEP referred Miss W to the National Energy Foundation (NEF) for fuel vouchers, which can be used to top-up prepayment meters. Miss W received £98 in fuel vouchers, offering short term reduction in her energy bills to reduce stress and improve comfort.

National Grid’s Priority Services Register

In checking Miss W’s eligibility for any of NEP’s additional services, the Project Support Officer was able to see that Miss W was already on National Grid’s Priority Services Register. This service ensures that Miss W is looked after as she would get advance warning and support of a scheduled power cut.