Alternative Fuel Payment
The Government has recently confirmed that households across Great Britain eligible for the £200 Alternative Fuel Payment will start to receive this additional financial support from the beginning of February. The one-off payment is aimed at helping ease the cost of soaring heating bills this winter for around two million homes across Great Britain that do not use mains gas. This includes households using oil, coal, LPG, and wood pellets to heat their homes.
The vast majority, including many homes in rural areas, will get it automatically through their electricity supplier as a credit on their bill throughout February. A small minority of customers, such as those living in park homes or on static houseboats with no direct energy supplier, will need to apply to receive the payment through an online portal that will launch later this month.
Wood Pellets
The wood pellets produced by Balcas Energy our locally produced and meet En Plus A1 standards. This should have a huge factor when considering your wood pellets provider as many suppiers sell EnPlusA1 wood pellets they are sourced or imported from Russia and Belarus, they are not locally produced.
It is estimated that up to 40% of the ENplus® pellets used in the UK are imported from Russia and Belarus leaving many suppliers low on stock. At Balcas Energy, we have felt the pressure of this as we make our wood pellet fuel with green energy in our two local plants in Enniskillen (Northern Ireland) and Invergordon (Scotland) meaning we have been providing more customers than usual.
Here at Balcas Energy, we use a sustainable manufacturing process, by using renewable energy and the highest quality material to make our EnPlus A1 Wood Pellets.
Why should you choose Balcas Energy ENplus® A1 certified pellets?
A key advantage of ENplus® is that pellet quality is managed throughout the entire supply chain including production, storage, and transport to the end consumer.
At Balcas Energy, our locally manufactured Wood pellets are ENplus® A1 & BSL certified. We have listed a comprehensive list of our certificates and accreditations on this page, where we let customers see and download any document they need for their peace of mind and high-quality proofing – Our company can also be found on the official ENplus® A1 quality scheme website.
We control these high-quality standards since we manipulate the trees and timber, through the sustainable local manufacturing process in our two plants in Northern Ireland and Scotland through the entire delivery with our special fleet, and to your home or business address.
Please click on the image to see the specifications of our wood pellets compared to the ENplus® A1 quality scheme requirements.
What are the potential issues with using non ENplus®A1 certified pellets?
With customers using noncertified wood pellets, they are most likely going to encounter one of the following:
- Higher ash content –up to 10 times greater. More ash means less energy efficiency and increased boiler maintenance.
- Lower ash melting temperature – greater risk of clinker causing blockages on the grate and reduced efficiencies.
- Higher chlorine contents – The risk of accelerated heat exchanger corrosion in your biomass appliance.
- Higher percentage fines content due to lower durability.
- Very high chance of causing your appliance problems as soon as they enter the fuel delivery system. Non-certified pellets will look similar to certified pellets, you cannot tell the difference just from a visual inspection but they could behave very differently in your boiler.
4 key aspects of ENplus® Certified wood pellets
Balcas Sustainability Manufacturing Process
Balcas is a business that is focused on the future. And there is no better future than one we can control.
At Balcas we believe that sustainably managed forests are our future. So we innovate with timber, taking care to use it as efficiently as possible, ensuring four trees are planted for every one we harvest.
Forests are the lungs of the planet and we are proud of the contribution that we are making towards fighting climate change:
If you need to speak to us about our locally produced high-quality wood pellets, please contact us by clicking HERE.
Thank You,
Balcas Energy
