Chapter Ten Household Experience with New Central Heating System
10.1 All households were asked three specific questions about their general experience associated with the installation of the new heating system under the CHP. Overall, the results are very positive.
Heating System Performance
10.2 Each household was asked to describe on a five-point scale how well they considered the new system to heat their home overall:
1. Useless
2. Not very well
3. It's okay
4. Well
5. Extremely well
10.3 The overwhelming response was that the system heated the home either well or extremely well (see Table 10.1). These two responses accounted for 83.2% of all responses. The average score was 4.10 on the five-point scale. However, not everyone agreed with these opinions: 3.1% of households rated the new systems as useless or not very well in terms of how well it heated their home. Given the problems that a very small number of households had with their new system or getting new meters installed, cited during the interviews such opinions are not surprising.
10.4 When this question was broken down by tenure, there were some differences in the emphasis between tenure groups. Over 75% of each of the tenures, ranging between 77.7% of housing association tenants to 95.5% of private rented tenants, stated that the system heated the home either well or extremely well (see Table 10.1). Again, there was a small percentage of households within each tenure (with the exception of the private rented) that considered the new system to be either useless, or not heating their home very well.
Table 10.1: Household rating of heating system performance
| Rating of Heating System on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
useless | not very well | okay | well | extremely well | average |
|---|
total sample (n=475) | 0.6 | 2.5 | 13.7 | 52.4 | 30.7 | 4.10 |
|---|
owner occupiers (n=217) | 0.4 | 3.2 | 10.1 | 48.2 | 37.8 | 4.19 |
|---|
local authority (n=155) | 0 | 1.3 | 18.7 | 55.4 | 24.5 | 4.03 |
|---|
Housing assoc. (n=81) | 2.5 | 3.7 | 16.0 | 54.3 | 23.4 | 3.93 |
|---|
private rented (n=22) | 0 | 0 | 4.5 | 63.7 | 31.8 | 4.25 |
|---|
10.5 In terms of the type of central heating, 74% of those households that received an electric storage system considered it to heat the home well or extremely well, compared with 84.7% of those that received a gas system. A small percentage of households considered the new system to be either useless, or not heating their home very well - these were all either electric or gas systems. No oil or solid fuel system was rated negatively. The oil systems were rated the most positive overall with over 90% of households considering them to heat their home well or extremely well (see Table 10.2).
Table 10.2: Household rating of heating system performance: By heating fuel
heating fuel | Rating of Heating System on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
useless | not very well | okay | well | extremely well | average |
|---|
oil (n=53) | 0 | 0 | 9.4 | 32.1 | 58.5 | 4.48 |
|---|
solid fuel (n=2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 4.00 |
|---|
electric (n=100) | 2.0 | 3.0 | 21.0 | 48.0 | 26.0 | 3.93 |
|---|
gas (n=320) | 6.6 | 2.8 | 12.2 | 56.9 | 27.8 | 4.09 |
|---|
Overall Satisfaction
10.6 Each household was asked to describe, again on a five-point scale, their overall degree of satisfaction with the new heating system.
1. Extremely dissatisfied
2. Dissatisfied
3. It's okay
4. Satisfied
5. Extremely satisfied
10.7 The overwhelming response was again positive, with almost three-quarters of householders (73.7%) either satisfied or extremely satisfied with their new heating system (see Table 10.3). The average degree of satisfaction was 3.87 on the five-point scale. Again not all the households were happy with their new heating system with 10.5% either dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied. The main causes of complaint tended to relate to damage to house decoration during installation of the system, and the behaviour or attitude of the contractor while on site.
10.8 The responses varied when this question was broken down by tenure. Approximately 70% of housing association or local authority tenants were satisfied with their system, compared to almost 80% of owner-occupiers, and over 80% of private rented tenants (see Table 10.3). Almost 10%, if not more, of the households within each tenure group were dissatisfied or extremely dissatisfied with their new system. With the exception of the two households that received a solid fuel system, there is some dissatisfaction with other three types of heating: gas, oil and electric (see Table 10.4).
Table 10.3: Household satisfaction with new heating system
| Satisfaction with new heating system on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
extremely dissatisfied | dissatisfied | okay | satisfied | extremely satisfied | average |
|---|
total sample (n=475) | 2.9 | 7.5 | 15.7 | 46.7 | 26.9 | 3.87 |
|---|
owner occupiers (n=217) | 4.1 | 5.5 | 11.1 | 44.7 | 34.6 | 4.00 |
|---|
local authority (n=155) | 0 | 9.6 | 20.6 | 47.7 | 21.9 | 3.82 |
|---|
Housing assoc. (n=81) | 3.7 | 11.1 | 21.0 | 48.1 | 16.0 | 3.62 |
|---|
private rented (n=22) | 9.0 | 0 | 9.0 | 54.5 | 27.3 | 3.91 |
|---|
Table 10.4: Household satisfaction with new heating system: By heating fuel
heating fuel | Satisfaction with new heating system on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
extremely dissatisfied | dissatisfied | okay | satisfied | extremely satisfied | average |
|---|
oil (n=53) | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 34.0 | 54.7 | 4.3 |
|---|
solid fuel (n=2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 4.0 |
|---|
electric (n=100) | 3.0 | 8.0 | 27.0 | 37.0 | 25.0 | 3.73 |
|---|
gas (n=320) | 2.8 | 8.1 | 14.3 | 51.6 | 23.1 | 3.84 |
|---|
Ease of Use
10.9 All households were asked to rate how easy they found it to use the new heating system on a five-point scale:
1. Extremely difficult to use
2. Difficult to use
3. Could be easier
4. Easy to use
5. Extremely easy to use
10.10 The overwhelming majority of householders (76.1%) found the new systems either easy or extremely easy to use (see Table 10.5). The average rating of the ease of use was 3.76 on the five-point scale. Again these opinions did not apply to all respondents, as 13.5% stated that they found the systems difficult or extremely difficult to use. The two main concerns were the inability to understand the digital programmers on some systems and the ability to manipulate the settings on certain boiler-mounted time clocks.
10.11 The responses varied when this question was broken down by tenure. Slightly fewer than 70% of local authority tenants found their systems easy or extremely easy to use, compared to over 80% of owner occupiers. Over 70% of each of the housing association and private rented tenures found the system easy or very easy to use (see Table 10.5). Again, there were households within each tenure group that found the new systems difficult or extremely difficult to use. Local authority tenants had the most problems with the new systems with over 20% stating they found the system difficult or extremely difficult to use.
Table 10.5: Household rating on ease of use of new heating system
| Easy to Use Rating on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
extremely difficult | difficult | okay | easy | extremely easy | average |
|---|
total sample (n=474)* | 3.4 | 10.2 | 10.3 | 59.9 | 16.2 | 4.04 |
|---|
owner occupiers (n=216)* | 2.3 | 5.6 | 10.2 | 60.6 | 21.3 | 3.94 |
|---|
local authority (n=155) | 5.2 | 15.5 | 11.0 | 57.4 | 11.0 | 3.54 |
|---|
Housing assoc. (n=81) | 3.7 | 9.9 | 11.1 | 65.4 | 9.9 | 3.68 |
|---|
private rented (n=22) | 0 | 18.2 | 4.5 | 50.0 | 27.2 | 3.86 |
|---|
* One householder stated that the controls were set by their son, and had never attempted set the controls
10.12 Less than 75% of those that received a gas heating system found the new heating to be either easy or extremely easy to use, compared to over 75% for the other three system types. A small percentage of households had problems with using the new systems - 15.7% of those that received a gas system and 10% of those that received electric system (see Table 10.6).
Table 10.6: Household rating of ease of use of new heating system: By fuel
Heating fuel | Satisfaction with new heating system on 5-point scale (% of householders) |
|---|
extremely difficult | difficult | okay | easy | extremely easy | average |
|---|
oil (n=53) | 1.9 | 5.7 | 9.4 | 45.2 | 37.7 | 4.11 |
|---|
solid fuel (n=2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100 | 0 | 4.0 |
|---|
electric (n=100) | 1.0 | 9.0 | 11.0 | 58.0 | 21.0 | 3.89 |
|---|
gas (n=319)* | 4.4 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 62.7 | 11.3 | 3.66 |
|---|
Overall Comment on Chapter Ten
10.13 The overall responses for all three questions indicate that the general experience with the CHP and the new heating system installed is generally extremely positive. This high degree of general satisfaction should not disguise the fact that there are some households whose experiences have not been as positive as others have. Seeking out and remedying the causes of their concerns will improve the scheme overall.