>
I suppose if your frame isn’t thermally efficient enough to achieve an A rating, then a C or B rating is better than nothing. But in reality, there are plenty of suppliers out there now that are able to offer A rated windows. And the cost differences between C and A are minute, it wouldn’t make much sense to offer C if A rated windows cost only slightly more.
There’s one great big advantage about the changes to Part L in 2010. All those who are not selling energy rated windows are either going to get left so far behind the catch up will be too long, or companies will just go bust due to the inability to offer products that conform to the rules and are not competitive with other products on the market.
SIGN THE WINDOWS SCRAPPAGE SCHEME PETITION NOW!: http://www.petitions.number10.gov.uk/windowscrappage
>The main issue is cost, even if it only cost £5 per frame difference as you can't guarantee being able to pass this on to every customer for every window.
Even if you only fabricate 200 frames a week, £5 per frame will cost you £50K a year – how confident would you be to be able to pass all that on? – very risky!
>From a cost angle I can see your point of view.
We sell 'A' rated windows as standard now, but only because were were able to negotiate with our suppliers to sell them without an energy rated surcharge, meaning our 'E' rated window costs the same as our 'A' rated window.