Over 54,000 vouchers have been snapped up under the Government's Boiler Scrappage scheme leaving around 70,000 vouchers worth a total of £28 million still up for grabs.

The scheme was launched in January to upgrade up to 125,000 household heating systems in England to cut carbon, save money on fuel bills and sustain work for the heating industry.

All the major energy companies which sell and install boilers (British Gas, E.On, npower and Scottish & Southern) have now matched the offer, giving householders potentially £800 off the cost of a new efficient boiler. Some manufacturing companies are also offering deals.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said: "The Boiler Scrappage scheme has proved incredibly popular and with energy companies and manufacturers offering deals as well, the government scheme has truly kick-started a national programme of boiler replacement. The scheme is helping householders to save around £200 a year off fuel bills and reduce emissions while helping to sustain work for the 130,000 installers and up to 25 UK-based boiler manufacturers throughout the economic recovery."

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The Energy Saving Trust (EST), which is running the scheme on behalf of Government, is receiving on average 5,000 enquiries per day to its 14 call centres across England. In the first few days after the launch, EST dealt with 24,000 calls per day.

Fraser Winterbottom from Energy Saving Trust said: "We're extremely pleased with the public’s response to this scheme. Since the scrappage offer was launched the phones have been ringing off the hook, and our call centres have been working hard to process the applications – we’ve had nearly 400,000 calls nationally – an average of 5,000 a day at each of our regional advice centres.

"It's clear that people are very keen to slash their energy bills and do their bit in helping to cut the UK's CO2 emissions, given the right support - we’ve given out nearly 5,000 vouchers in the capital. There are still thousands more vouchers to be claimed, and with more and more companies complementing the scheme with their own offers, there's no better time to get rid of that old inefficient boiler."

(CD/GK)