If UK citizens thought installing energy efficient products saves on their electricity bills and is a cheaper alternative, they are in for a surprise. No doubt, solar energy powers their homes, reduces the power consumption and saves the planet from global warming, but they will have to wait for a maximum of 200 or more years to recoup the investment they made on solarizing their homes.
A research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors(RICS) found that energy saving projects such as cavity wall insulations, energy-efficient condensing boilers, loft insulations and solar heating could take anywhere from 5 to 200 years to break-even on the investments.
One major factor contributing to the increasing waiting time to recover the investments is the high VAT that is imposed on these energy-efficient products and this makes such investments an unattractive proposition for home-owners.
RICS has been calling on Government to reduce the level of VAT applied to all energy-saving measures and to provide an attractive grant program to aid real change
Says Jill Craig of RICS.
When the government is keen on protecting its environment and cutting the power consumption, it makes sense to encourage the citizens by giving them investor friendly options so that they don’t have to wait for their great-grand children to recover the investments they have made. What’s more, these technologies that are ‘hot’ now get outdated even before the home owners themselves!
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