IF THE cold weather has prompted you to crank up the central heating, it is worth thinking about what you will do if your heating system or boiler packs up. The price comparison website uSwitch.com says that one in three boilers breaks down within six years of being installed and the average repair bill is £470.

Heating or boiler cover can protect consumers from having to fork out for labour and parts in the event of a problem. Policies are offered by a number of energy providers, such as British Gas, nPower and Powergen, but also by insurance companies including Direct Line, Endsleigh and Norwich Union.

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, says: “Household budgets are stretched so tight that it can be tempting to try to make a quick saving by not bothering to cover things such as your boiler. But this small saving can end up costing you dear. If your boiler packs up, you are likely to face a £500 bill, plus the misery of trying to get somebody to sort it out quickly – not much fun in the middle of winter.”

Insurance plans cost anything from about £7 to £20 a month and range from cover for boiler and controls, radiators, thermostats and storage heaters to annual services or inspections. Some of the most expensive policies cover plumbing and electrics too. In most cases, engineers are on call 24 hours a day.

The ReactFast HomeAssist policy was named as a best buy in a survey by Which?, the consumer group, in September. This policy is designed to respond to customers’ crises in only two hours. The boiler and heating policy, which also includes an annual service, costs £15.16 a month but you receive a 5 per cent discount if you pay a year’s premium in advance. A more comprehensive policy, which also covers plumbing and drains, costs £19.50 a month.

“ReactFast HomeAssist will cover your boiler no matter how old it is, subject to an initial inspection from one of its gas engineers,” says a Which? spokesperson. “Your contract can also be renewed for the lifetime of the boiler, so you won’t be left in the cold when it starts to age. You can even have your boiler replaced if it is beyond repair and less than seven years old.”

Meanwhile, nPower, which uses Homeserve to run policies, offers a competitively priced deal. Cover for your boiler costs £8.09 a month, or you can pay £10.79 a month to insure your entire central heating system. Electrical storage, or panel, heaters can be covered for £4.03 a month and if they are beyond economical repair, policyholders will receive a £200 contribution towards their replacement.

People often assume that they have to buy heating cover from their existing utilities supplier, but this is not the case. You are free to buy cover from any provider, and policies from insurance companies are certainly worth considering.

Direct Line Home Emergency offers two policies: Response and Total Response. Response starts at £7 a month and covers call-out fees and one hour’s labour. Total Response starts at £18 a month and covers call-out fees, plus parts and labour up to £1,000. The exact price depends on the size of your home and number of residents. Neither policy has an excess or a limit on call-outs.

Householders may think that they are playing safe by buying heating cover from a big company, but some key players have disappointing records for customer satisfaction.

Over the past couple of years Times Money has been inundated with complaints about British Gas’s Homecare product. These have included appointments not being available for several days, engineers not turning up when agreed, hard-sell tactics and engineers condemning heating systems as dangerous or obsolete when a second opinion reveals that they function adequately.

The latest customer satisfaction report by uSwitch ranked British Gas as the worst of all the energy suppliers. Claire Monaghan, of British Gas, says that the company has worked hard to improve its service in recent years, adding: “We have recruited 1,000 new engineers each year and now have more than 9,000 across the country to meet customer demand.

We are committed to a standard of service that means we will get to at least eight out of ten call-outs in the same day, where a customer has no heating or hot water.”

However, before signing up to any policy, check the small print. You will find that all plans are subject to some kind of limitation. Some have financial limits on the amount that you can claim, or on the number of call-outs a year.

Scott Byrom, of moneysupermarket.com, the comparison website, says: “Before you opt for boiler and heating cover, check for any cover under your home insurance. This sort of cover on home insurance policies isn’t the most comprehensive, unless you buy it as an added extra, but you may be covered when boilers or central heating breaks down, so it is worth checking what your policy will repair or replace.”

Heating cover is not necessary for everyone. If you have had a new boiler installed recently, it is unlikely to break down for at least the first couple of years. So if you have the cash to pay for repairs as you go along, you may be better off saving the money that you would have spent on insurance.

“Martin Lewis, of MoneySavingExpert.com, says: “One option, instead of paying for a policy each month, is to self-insure and put the same amount into a savings account to build your own emergency fund. If you have a problem, the cash is there to pay for it; if not, the cash is yours.”

CASE STUDY

HAPPIER WITH HOMESERVE

LISA GEDDES and her husband, Jon, recently took out a Homeserve heating and boiler policy, including an annual service and breakdown cover, for £13.99 a month. Since taking out the policy the couple have had one breakdown and one service and the engineer turned up, as promised, on both occasions.

However, the couple have not always had good experiences with home emergency cover. Previously, they had a British Gas Homecare policy, which promised an engineer either the same or next day in the event of a breakdown.

Mrs Geddes, pictured with her daughter, says: “The peace of mind was fine when the boiler was working. But when it broke down one winter, we called and were told that it would take two days to get an engineer. This was a hassle in itself, but then he failed to turn up. We made another appointment and the engineer failed to turn up again.”

Furious that the family would have to go without heating or hot water for four days, Mrs Geddes rang to cancel the policy. “That was a struggle too, as we had signed up to an annual deal,” she says. “But eventually the customer services team cancelled.”

The couple then made their own arrangements for an engineer but it took two weeks, during which time they had to boil water on the hob for shallow baths. “The Homeserve policy is much better,” Mrs Geddes says. “We have a baby now so it would be hard to cope without hot water or heating.”