We've announced that we'll match-fund the Government's £400 boiler scrappage allowance. This means customers buying a new boiler from British Gas can cut the cost by £800 this winter.

The announcement came as we welcomed the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change, Ed Miliband, to our Energy Academy in Dartford - one of five British Gas academies, which train apprentice engineers to install and maintain energy-efficient boilers.

We've worked quickly to put match-funding in place following the Government's unveiling of its new boiler scrappage scheme in the Pre-Budget Report on 9 December 2009.

We're the leading installer of energy efficient boilers in Britain. Each year, we install 120,000 new boilers, and train between 300 and 500 engineers who fit and maintain them - as well as many other new energy technologies, such as solar panels.

Welcoming the Prime Minister, Sam Laidlaw, Chief Executive of Centrica (the owner of British Gas), said: "If the UK is to meet its tough carbon reduction targets, it is vital that old, inefficient energy technologies are replaced. The Government's boiler scrappage scheme is, therefore, a very welcome initiative; it will assist the replacement of the country's four million inefficient domestic boilers with new boilers, which can improve energy efficiency by up to 30% - an important step towards lowering carbon emissions."

Unveiling British Gas's match-funding, Phil Bentley, Managing Director of British Gas, said: "We want to help customers take advantage of the new boiler scrappage scheme, so we're offering to match the Government's £400 allowance, which means customers can cut a total of £800 from the cost of a new boiler from British Gas.

"As the country's leading installer of energy efficient boilers, we know that new boilers help lower fuel bills by as much as £235 a year."

More information is available at: www.britishgas.co.uk/yourboiler