Three of the UK’s “big four” boiler manufacturers cannot guarantee that customers will receive a refund for the so-called “boiler tax” that the companies added to new boilers earlier this year.
In January, boiler manufacturers increased costs by up to an additional £120 per boiler to cover anticipated penalties for a green scheme – which has now been delayed.
Ministers told them to ensure 4% of their sales were heat pumps rather than gas boilers, or face a £3,000 fine per missed installation.
As heat pumps run on electricity rather than gas, the measure is designed to increase energy security and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.
Energy security secretary Claire Coutinho accused manufacturers of “price manipulation” and said LBC’s heat pump sales were already so high that there were few penalties.
Boiler manufacturers said the unattainable targets would create multi-million pound fines they could not pay, so they increased the price of gas boilers to cover the anticipated charges.
But in March, the government postponed the heat pump target – also known as the clean heat market mechanism (CHMM) and nicknamed the “boiler tax” – to April 2025, following resistance from the boiler industry.
Three of the “big four” boiler manufacturers, Bosch, Vaillant and BAXI, this week told Sky News they were refunding “boiler tax” money to distributors and retailers to whom they sold boilers.
But they said it was these companies’ responsibility to give money back to families, because manufacturers tend not to have a direct relationship with consumers themselves.
No one from Ideal Heating was available to comment or confirm its plans.
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It turns out that energy think tank ECIU estimates that the four companies together would have raised £40 million through the so-called boiler tax, based on the average amount charged and the average number of boilers sold per month in the UK.
Jess Ralston, head of energy at the ECIU, said: “Manufacturers introduced the boiler tax, not retailers, so it appears they are shifting the blame to an intermediary.
“They were suggesting that the fines should be dropped, so they must have thought it was a possibility to get the boiler tax refunded – it doesn’t seem like they created any mechanism for that eventuality, leaving someone else in the way. hook.”
Gillian Cooper, energy director at Citizens Advice, said: “Now that boiler retailers have been promised refunds, it is essential that they pass these refunds on to consumers.
“Anyone who bought a boiler between January 1 and the end of March this year may have been forced to pay more than they should, leaving them out of money.
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“Not only have people been misled, but the government’s decision to delay the Clean Heat Market Mechanism in response to pressure from manufacturers will leave consumers exposed to gas price volatility for longer.”
After the government confirmed the CHMM delay, retailer Wolseley, which sells boilers manufactured by Vaillant, confirmed it was taking responsibility for issuing refunds on boiler sales.
Clean home heating company Warmur has urged boiler manufacturers to “proactively contact customers who know they have had a boiler installed since January 1 and help them get a refund”.
What did the boiler makers say?
BAXI said its consumers will receive a refund because it is returning “any funds already raised to our commercial distributors, who then supply products to a 35,000-strong community of installers, who then sell to consumers.”
“We are in the middle of completing this process, although we have stopped adding the surcharge as of Monday, March 18th.
“In the small number of cases where we sell directly to consumers through escrow relationships, we will refund the surcharge directly to them.”
A Vaillant spokesperson said: “Vaillant has communicated to its direct commercial customers that the boiler levy has been removed from 19 March 2024 and all fees charged since 1 January 2024 will be refunded in full.”
“Vaillant can only guarantee that our direct customers are reimbursed, and it is not visible to us to what extent installers and tradespeople have passed on the fee.”
A Bosch spokesperson said: “We have fully refunded our trader customers 100% of the tax charged on the boilers we sold to them in the period 1 January 2024 to 15 March 2024.
They added: “Our business relationship is with the merchant and we refund the fee to them. We do not sell boilers to the end consumer.”
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
