Corgi has recently marked the 1,000th member for its student membership scheme, reaching the milestone just nine months into the programme.
Ben Wright from Bradford Collage was presented with a prize to celebrate the milestone. It was presented to him by Sam Browne of Corgi and Paul Bickerdale of Parts Center (part of the Wolseley Group, which also owns Plumb Center).
Recent survey of 1,300 plumbers, heating engineers and installers has confirmed that the overall majority of them are happy with the general format of the Approved Certification Scheme (ACS).
By 2009 it is estimated that around 5.7 million households in Britain will be in fuel poverty status. Almost a quarter of the population, most of them on low income will be affected by the increasing cost of heating and energy.
Landlords in the UK are being reminded by the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) that it is their responsibility to ensure the property has gas installations that are safe and that have been checked by a competent Corgi registered plumber or heating engineer.
A fault with the council house boiler meant that a family had a Christmas to forget. The boiler broke down on the 23rd of December and the family of five (including a three week old baby) had to spend a cold Christmas without a boiler, without hot water and without a cooker and with a very sour atmosphere.
Centrica, owner of British Gas, estimates that the average cost of heating and electricity will top £1,000 within the next 3-4 years. Ever increasing cost of oil will push the average cost of energy from around £600 per annum to above £1,000.
In addition to the credit crunch and rapidly increasing cost of heating and electricity, the cost of water is likely to rise above inflation, according to draft proposals submitted by the largest UK water companies to the water regulator OFWAT.
The campaign to cut the VAT from 17.5% to 5% has just added a powerful new member. The Association of Plumbing and Heating Contractors (APHC) has recently joined the cross-industry ‘Cut the VAT Coalition’.
Recent feedback from plumbers and heating engineers involved in the solar thermal industry has been very negative regarding the governments’ Low Carbon Buildings Scheme. The government has allocated £87 million of funding to be spent on solar thermal systems in the UK, but it is not being implemented as there are only 31 plumbers that are approved installers under the scheme.
