An elderly neighbor of mine is considering signing on for Nat’l Grid’s Premier Heating Plan which costs about $250 a year. Does anyone have experience with it?
Thanks.


Comments

  1. We’ve picked up the contract of the previous owners when we moved in this year. It IS useful if you, like us, are newbies and want to ensure that everything is in working order, and keep an eye on potential problems. That said, if you or your neighbor are already familiar with maintaining the furnace and water heater, it may not be necessary.

  2. I’ve had this plan (and it’s predecessors from Keyspan and Brooklyn Union) for about 20 years. I haven’t needed service often, since I have a simple forced hot air furnace, but they’ve come promptly on the few occasions I’ve needed them. A couple of years ago they replaced my thermostat and, when that turned out not to be the cause of my furnace shutting down, the electric furnace flue damper at no additional charge. The thermostat wasn’t actually broken, but the electronic one they installed works much better than the electro-mechanical one it replaced. They also re-set my furnace spill switch about five years ago and recommended a good chimney service to re-line my chimney, which solved that problem.

    I’m not sure that service plans are necessarily a good deal, but they’re convenient and I think I’ve at least broken even.