Should we pay less VAT on energy-saving goods?

I think is a great idea, I hope this make more people buy energy saving thus saving the planet. I prefer paying less VAT on energy saving goods rather raising it on energy guzzling ones.

Very good idea

I’m all for it

Yes, this kind of change would be more effective than lots of government-sponsored advertising, particularly in promoting energy conservation in areas of the market outside B&Q (eg local tradesmen in southwest Scotland) who haven’t otherwise caught up with the idea that people want this stuff.

QUOTE: ” The 5% VAT already applies if you have certain energy-saving measures professionally installed. “.

Does anyone reading this remember the “Laptops for teachers” scheme from about 8 years ago?

That sounded great when you first heard about it: every teacher in the country could get a laptop computer and the government will pay towards it.

Then you read the small print: teachers had to buy a laptop from a very small range of suppliers (many of whom have long since gone bust) who were infamous amongst all computers users for charging extortionate prices for shoddy, low specification, outdated computers and providing the most notoriously awful customer service. Finally the small print pointed out that when you had chosen your laptop and supplier, you could only get back form the government about £300. THis was at a time when the average laptop cost about £650 and the ones that came form the eligible suppliers were marketing at around £975 and upwards, so in fact teachers buying a laptop through the scheme saved precisely nothing or, in many cases, paid more from their own pocket than they would have if they’d been and bought a decent model from a good supplier as a private purchase.

The 5% VAT on professionally installed eco-goods is rather similar as far as I can see. It’s very much like the Boiler Scrappage Scheme. In both of these cases (and I have looked into this extensively over almost 2 years now) the cost of buying from the approved suppliers and choosing from the limited range of goods included in the schemes is massively greater than buying outright from a reputable and highly rated trader and choosing the model that you want for yourself. The 5% VAT doesn’t bring the price down to anywhere near the full price that you’d pay without using the scheme. In short these schemes are designed to make extra revenue at the expense of the unsuspecting consumer.
Radio 4’s “you and yours” and “Money box” have investigated these schemes extensively and forced leading spokespeople for them to admit on air that the schemes are flawed. For example in Autumn 2009 leading experts on GAs boilers put a government spokesperson on the spot on air by proving that if you bought a boiler under the boiler scrappage scheme, the possible savings of having a new SEDBUK A boiler instead of an old G rated model would take around 22 years (at the then current gas prices) to pay for the cost of the boiler, including all discounts possible under the scheme. However, try as they might, they could not find a boiler manufacturer who thought that their boilers would last beyond 8 years in service, so it was clear that financially the boiler scrappage scheme was just a way to get money out of the public. By contrast they found a good number of installers who could supply and install a model that would make the same saving sin use, but where the payback would come in under 12 years, if it was done as a “normal” purchase, not involving the BSS.
The bottom line, though, was “your boiler has to be WORKING to be eligible for the scheme, if your boiler is working then under no circumstances change it in the hope of saving money as you will be unable to do so. If you want to change it for the same of being able to say “I’m going green, fine, but it will be at your cost”.

Sorry – this is very long winded: What I am saying is that the 5% VAT idea is brilliant but the caveat that professional installers from an approved list have to be used is something that I do not truyst one inch and won’t even think of taking up.

Finally, my solar water heating cost just under £2,500 to supply and install, including a new cylinder twice the size of the old one, quite lengthy pipework and all the solar equipment. It was a completely “private” transaction between me and the company I chose and involved no schemes, grants or anything like that and as far as I can see it cost me a good £3,000 less than any solar water heating system that is covered by any of the government backed schemes. I would not have been eligible anyway because all the schemes that I read about said that before I could even apply for a grant or discount I had to have UPVC double glazing throughout and cavity wall insulation. My windows are in a conservation area and UPVC is prohibited so I was on to a loser from the outset.

Although I am in total agreement about the immorality of patio heaters, I feel the same about air conditioners. Why have we let so many office blocks be designed so that they MUST have air conditioning? I have rarely been in an office block where it worked satisfactorily anyway. They all seem to slow to respond to changes in the weather and it’s either too cold or too hot. I bet if someone calculated the drain on the national grid by air conditioning plant, it would probably account for all the nuclear reactors we have on line.

What’s wrong with windows? Add if the argument is that you cannot have windows in high buildings, don’t build them.

Simples.