Clearview National February 2015 - Issue 159 | Page 28
INDUSTRYNEWS
Heading for the Highlands
»»The GGF raised its
profile at the Scottish Parliament
in Holyrood, Edinburgh in the
first week of December last year,
with three jam packed days that
included a GGF exhibition,
meetings with over 20 Members
of the Scottish Parliament
(MSPs), input at the Scottish
Cross Party Group Meeting
on Fuel Poverty in Traditional
Buildings and an exclusive GGF
Members lunch and tour in the
Garden Lobby of the Parliament
Buildings.
Alex Gray, Chairman of GGF
Scotland commented, “It’s been
an amazing week and it’s so
important for the profile of the
GGF to be raised in Scotland’s
political arena. Sincere thanks to
Margaret McCulloch MSP and
Nigel Don MSP who helped
facilitate the GGF’s Exhibition
and arranged the lunch and
tour of The Scottish Parliament
buildings for our Members.”
Representing the GGF at
the Exhibition, James Lee,
Head of Group Marketing and
Communications commented,
“This has been an outstanding
week for the GGF at the Scottish
Parliament. We have made direct
contact and held good discussions
with over 20 MSPs, who have
taken a genuine interest in the
GGF, our campaigns and our
industry.”
Alex Gray, Chairman of GGF
Scotland summed up the week
saying, “It was clear that Members
enjoyed themselves at the Scottish
Parliament and the related GGF
events with good networking and
topical discussions throughout.
Thanks to all the Members for
attending and also thank you
also to the GGF staff for their
tremendous efforts in making this
a week to remember for GGF
Scotland.”
To find out more about GGF
Scotland or if you would like to
attend the next meeting, please
contact the GGF [email protected].
uk or call 020 7939 9101.
Failing to address
inefficient double glazing
»»The Government is
extending ECO (Energy Company Obligation),
introducing a new obligation period from
April 2015 to March 2017, termed ‘ECO2’.
The Electricity and Gas (Energy Company
Obligation) Order 2014 (the ‘ECO2 Order’)
sets out the requirements for ECO2.
‘replacement windows were
not included as a discussion
topic in the workshops’
As administrator of the scheme, Ofgem
will publish guidance for energy companies,
and is consulting on changes to the scheme
where they are exercising their discretion in
administering new legislative provisions, or
where they are making further improvements
to their current ECO policies.
As part of the stakeholder engagement
for this consultation, Ofgem held a number
of workshops that ran during the first two
28 » F EB 2015 » CL EARVI E W- UK . C O M
weeks in January 2015. Each session featured
an introductory presentation on the full list of
changes.
The workshops took place in Cardiff,
Glasgow and London and included the
following discussion topics:
• Pre-existing roof-insulation
requirements
• Cavities which cannot be insulated:
• Calculating the lifetime for multi-fuel
upgrades of existing DHS connections
• Qualifying electric storage heaters
• Qualifying boilers: not functioning
efficiently
• Virgin loft insulation: new requirements
• Technical monitoring process: revisions
Nigel Rees commented on the extension
plans: “Though the extension is welcome, it is
quite unbelievable that replacement windows
were not included as a discussion topic in the
workshops and are clearly not in the plans
for change within the scheme. This is more
frustrating for our industry because currently
under ECO the only windows that qualify for
the scheme are single glazed. How can fuel
poverty be properly addressed when those
suffering the effects are unable to upgrade
their inefficient double glazing which may
be decades old? The GGF will be contacting
Ofgem, demanding answers as to why glazing is
not part of the ECO2 plans.”
For further information go to:
www.ggf.org.uk