New boiler will save £4k a year

CIVIC fuel bills should be as cheap as chips now that the city council has ripped out its old boiler and replaced it with a wood-burning alternative.

The boiler, which will heat the council’s offices in Military Road, Canterbury, is fed on wood chips from Blean Woods. Officers estimate it will use 48 cubic metres of woodchip a month, saving £4,000 a year in gas bills.

It also qualifies for a £10,000-a-year grant under the Government’s Renewable Heat incentive scheme, which means the £112,000 investment should pay for itself within eight years.

Chief executive Colin Carmichael said: “The installation of a woodchip boiler was one of the targets we set ourselves in our environment policy.

“We want to be a leading organisation in the use of renewable energy and show others how important it is to be environmentally friendly.

“It has been a technically challenging project but commissioning and testing has now taken place. We had our first full day of heat from the new boiler last week.

“Obviously we are entering a time of the year where we won’t need to use it that much but we are very pleased it is now up and running and look forward to putting it through its paces properly later in the year.”