From jeff Howell in the telegraph

snip

"Now plans are afoot to coerce more of us into carrying out
"energy-saving" alterations to our properties, whether we want to or
not. The strategy is spelled out in a consultation document published
by the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and, if adopted, it will
mean that anyone undertaking home improvement work exceeding £8,000
(excluding VAT) will be obliged to spend an additional 10 per cent of
the total project value to improve the insulation value of the
existing building

snip

"The only good news is that the energy-efficiency improvements would
be required to have a payback period of seven years or less, which
should rule out measures such as replacement double glazing and solar
heating, both of which take decades to pay for themselves. Don't rule
out the ODPM tweaking the proposals to get around this caveat, however

snip

"One extraordinary thing about these proposed changes is that very few
people in the building industry seem to be aware of them. The
proposals were apparently circulated to more than 250 organisations,
but the paragraph in question was buried on page 103 of a 332-page
document (whose consultation period ended, by the way, three weeks
ago)."

snip

Discuss

MBQ