The £400 vouchers should be received approximately 10 days after receipt of your application to the EST. The vouchers are valid for 12 weeks from the date of issue and are to be redeemed against a new boiler from a manufacturer of an A-rated gas, oil or LPG units, or alternatively boilers with a Passive Flue Heat Recovery Device, Micro CHP units or Microgeneration Certification Scheme-registered biomass boilers and heat pumps. Solar Thermal is also eligible if combined with an eligible boiler replacement. Electric boilers are NOT eligible.

Once you’ve received your voucher, you will need to contact your gas installer to arrange a date for installation. Please note you cannot claim the £400 discount until the boiler installation work has been completed and payment has been made in full to the installer!

To claim the £400 discount, send the voucher together with the gas installation invoice to the Energy Savings Trust – AFTER you have paid in full for the new boiler and installation work. Payment will then be issued within 25 working days from receipt of both of these items.

If the voucher is not redeemed within the 12 week period, the EST will cancel the voucher and reallocate the funding to a new applicant.

Up to 125,000 households could benefit from the scheme, including those who own their own homes and landlords who privately rent out their homes. However social landlords, housing associations and boiler installers are not eligible.

To qualify, homeowners need to have a working G-rated boiler which is the main boiler used to heat the home (although for those over 60, the boiler does not need to be in working order).

To find out if your boiler qualifies, visit our SEDUK Database or let npower identify your boiler model and efficiency rating and you may be able to save up to £800 with the npower Boiler Scrappage Scheme.

If your boiler does qualify for replacement, suppliers and qualified installers including npower will be able to provide a quotation for a new A-rated boiler or renewable heating system.

Once you have selected an installer to fit the new boiler, you’ll need to provide the Energy Savings Trust (EST) with confirmation of; the qualified installer, that they have also visited your home or property to make assessment, provided an approved quotation, together with details of the existing G-rated boiler being replaced.

Once your submission is approved, the EST will then issue a voucher worth £400 from 18th January 2010, which is valid for 12 weeks. And once the new boiler is fitted, the homeowner pays the bill in full to the installer, then claims the £400 back from the EST using the voucher, a process which should take no longer than 25 days.

Various energy suppliers including npower and British Gas, have already launched their own Boiler Scrappage Schemes, and in some cases are offering better discounts compared to the Government’s £400 discount, meaning householders could save up tp £800 through the scheme.

Friends of the Earth however have criticised the scheme for not going far enough. “The boiler scrappage scheme is a welcome initiative but pathetically small,” said climate campaigner Dave Timms. “It will only reach 125,000 households when the UK has over 4m inefficient G-rated boilers.”

Energy is precious. Get saving!