A Newcastle City Council media item:
Don’t miss out on a free central heating system
Newcastle City Council are urging residents without or with only partial heating systems to check to see if they are eligible for a free central heating system before funding runs out.
Newcastle residents living in various urban areas of the city have already benefitted from the Central Heating Fund which is being delivered across the nine local authorities of Warm Up North thanks to a £6.5m government grant.
Newcastle City Council, part of Warm Up North, a partnership with eight other North East local authorities and British Gas, has been awarded funding to install free central heating systems into qualifying properties.
To qualify, the applicant must be a private homeowner or have a private landlord in one of the nine North East local authority areas; Northumberland County Council, Durham County Council, Darlington Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, South Tyneside Council, Sunderland City Council, Hartlepool Borough Council, Gateshead Council and Newcastle City Council.
They must also meet the below criteria:
1. The household has a gross total income of less than £26,000, including any benefits. Applicants may still qualify if they receive certain income-related benefits. Visit Warm Up North at www.warmupnorth.com/chf for the full list of these qualifying income-related benefits, or call them on 0800 294 8073*.
AND one of the following:
2. i) The property does not have, and never has had, a central heating system. If the property has electric storage heaters, electric room heaters, solid fuel fires and single gas fires it may qualify as they do not count as central heating systems.
ii) The main method of heating the property is the use of solid fuels [1] and it only has a partial, solid fuel-fired, central heating system. By partial, we mean that one or more of the habitable rooms [2] are not connected to the home’s main heating system.
iii) The property uses electric storage heaters.
AND:
3. Newcastle City Council want to install new central heating systems where they will make the most difference, particularly to the energy efficiency rating of homes. For the property to qualify, the installation of a new central heating system must improve the energy rating. This will be determined by a Warm Up North surveyor at the whole house assessment stage.
If the survey reveals a gas central heating system is not suitable for the property, an oil boiler or an air source heat pump will be installed into qualifying properties.
Cllr Joyce McCarty, Deputy Leader for Newcastle City Council, said: “We’re delighted that the scheme has already gained interest from a number of residents in different parts of Newcastle.
“The Warm Up North offer will make a huge difference to the quality of life of the people it helps and we really want that benefit to be felt across the city.
“Fuel poverty is a serious problem, including some areas of Newcastle, so we’re urging people who think that they may be eligible to contact the Warm Up North team as soon as possible for advice.”
Residents who think they may qualify for the scheme can find more information by visitingwww.warmupnorth.com/chf or by calling Warm Up North on 0800 294 8073*.
Twenty projects nationwide were awarded funding totalling £25 million, as part of the Central Heating Fund scheme which will improve the energy efficiency of more than 7,000 households across England.