Warmwales Reviews 4

In my opinion there is a lack of empathy for the fact that whilst you may qualify for free upgrades to your home, they are still talking about some pretty fundamental changes that may alter your home significantly, for example reduction in room size to allow for internal insulation. The initial survey is exactly that and will recommend that if all works can be carried out then your home will benefit, and I imagine most homes will benefit. However, if you have a less than typical home, for example old with solid stone walls not all recommendations are going to be possible. I asked questions to which I didn't ever get a full reply, instead largely referring me to the FAQ sheet which didn't cover the core points I was enquiring about. I was asked to agree to works proceeding, without which a final technical survey as to what might be possible in reality would not be commissioned, when surely the technical survey should take place before any agreement to proceed, so that you know what you are actually agreeing to. In the end we decided not to proceed as too much was unclear. Initial communications were good, but when I asked questions I was passed up to someone who treated me as if I were stupid, which is possible, as they know more about this than me, but they didn't really do anything to explain so I might understand or to reassure, in fact they just seemed agitated that I would not agree to proceed straight away and in that sense I felt pressured. My advice is ask the questions you want to ask and remember it is your decision to proceed or not. Whatever they may say, I have encountered people for whom this has worked well, and others for whom it has not.

We applied to Warm Wales for Powys ECO4 funding in autumn 2023 when, due to high gas prices, almost 50% of our income every month was being spent on heating our house. Initially, things seemed very promising. After providing proof of income and having an initial energy survey of our house, we were told we would qualify for a new Air-source heat pump, solar panels, and cavity wall insulation. Over the next couple of months, we had several follow up surveys and things seemed to be progressing, until everything went quiet.

The agent handling our application (a sub-contractor) stopped replying to our emails and hung up when we tried to phone them. Eventually, after chasing them and Warm Wales directly, we were told that air source heat pumps require planning permission to be installed within 3 metres of a boundary (we live in a terrace house less than 6 metres wide), and that they were waiting for that to go ahead.

We heard the first planning application (submitted by a sub-contractor of the sub-contractor) had failed from a company offering to appeal the rejection on our behalf, presumably for a fee. Since then, there have been two further applications, neither of which addressed the concerns that led to the first being rejected (noise levels and proximity to the boundary). Our boiler was condemned in April as being unsafe, but we were told that we would not qualify for a new one as we still technically had a condensing gas boiler.

Almost a year after our initial application we have yet to have any works started and are having to pay for a new boiler out of our savings in order to be able to heat the house this winter. Warm Wales themselves have been helpful whenever we have phoned, but their “agent” has been unresponsive and unprofessional (resorting to naming the environmental health officer who rejected the initial application in an angry email to Powys CC) when he eventually has.

Fantastic organisation! Always so helpful, they go through everything and do all the phoning to sort any and all issues with utility companies. Cannot recommend Warm Wales enough!

I have never known an organisation so profligate with money. We were within the target area for money (poor) but local council Powys, their partners in crime, does not allow the work to be done for planning reasons. This has not stopped endless hassles from sales people trying to fix us and we have already had two of them go through the motions trudging through our house (earning them feasibility study income) then turning us down. The third person to turn up at the door we sent packing and we have had endless leaflets urging us on to no avail thanks to that darling which is Powys Council. So go on Warm Wales waste money on these firms!!!!
Both Warm Wales and Powys Council are safe within fortress websites while our details are pasted all over the web. Absolute example of modern way of working.