Carillion Energy Services Survey Indicates 26% of UK Households Don't Have Their Boilers Serviced Regularly Enough

NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, England, June 16, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

Carillion Energy Services has carried out a survey which suggests that 26% of households in the UK haven't had their boiler serviced in the last 12 months.

The on-going survey, which has been carried out on Facebook, covers a wide range of ways to save money on central heating bills. As well as asking some straightforward questions about your central heating system, the application also calculates how much money you could save by making some simple changes to it.

"To keep a boiler operating at maximum efficiency you really need to have it serviced once a year," says Vince Barry, Marketing Manager for Carillion Energy Services Heating. "Most manufacturers recommend this, and in fact, it's a requirement for most warranties."

"The danger is that with everyone's personal budget so stretched at the moment people will delay, or even avoid, having their boiler serviced at all, and it really isn't a good idea."

 "At 26%, this means that over a quarter of household boilers could be operating  inefficiently," Vince continues, "a boiler which hasn't been serviced is less efficient, more likely to break down, and of course, less safe."

The Carbon Trust estimates that a poorly maintained boiler can use 10% more energy per year than a well-maintained one. For an average annual gas bill of around £608, this amounts to over £60 per year.

Since there are around 26 million households in Great Britain (source: Office of National Statistics) this means that potentially there are approximately 6.7 million households running their boilers inefficiently - wasting over around £400 million pounds, every year.

If you want to take part in the survey, it can be found on http://bit.ly/icouldsave. You can calculate the amount you could save on your central heating bill by answering a few simple questions.

Carillion Energy Services install around 30,000 central heating and boiler systems a year making them the 2nd largest heating installer in the UK - http://heating.carillionenergy.com/boiler-servicing