By Charlotte Beugge

Remember last winter? Snow brought much of the country to a halt in the coldest December for 100 years.

Now imagine going through such a winter with no heating, or in a home flooded by a burst pipe.  

Trying to avoid such circumstances is why many households have boiler or central heating cover – and many have the more comprehensive home emergency cover.  

Are these insurances worth having – or are you better off putting the money you’d otherwise spend on cover aside and pay for one-off help as and when it’s required?

Home emergency cover

This is offered by insurers including Aviva, Direct Line and AA as an add-on to home insurance policies or as a standalone policy. Typically, home emergency cover will help if your home has plumbing problems such as burst pipes; if your central heating fails or if your house is burgled and your locks broken.

It will usually cover call out charges plus parts and labour up to certain value. You will usually have access to a 24 hour helpline. AA charges £6.99 a month for home emergency cover (less for AA members), Aviva charges £7.95 a month and Direct Line offers cover from £7 a month.

Home emergency cover isn’t a maintenance plan – if you need major repairs to your heating, you’ll have to pay for it. And you won’t get a boiler service. Also, there will be limits on the amount of times you can get help and the level per claim.

Boiler and central heating cover

This is offered by British Gas, HomeServe and others and is standalone cover.

You can usually choose basic cover, which covers just the boiler and controls, to comprehensive cover which, in the case of British Gas, covers boilers, central heating, plumbing, drains and electrics from £27 a month.

Homeserve offers boiler and heating from £7.43 a month and plumbing and drainage from £3.32 a month.

A report by Which? in 2009 found that most households would be better off going without boiler cover, saving the money and using the cash to pay for repairs when needed. But it depends on you – if you have a reliable, local plumber who doesn't overcharge then you can probably go it alone.

Also, you can use the services of well-known brands on an occasional basis rather than buying year-long cover. 

HomeServe says it offers one-off boiler and heating repairs from £60. British Gas offers one-off repairs from £69. However, the typical boiler repair costs more like £200.

Boiler services cost from £6.61 a month with British Gas. A one-off service could cost around £70. AA offers boiler cover and service for £16.49 a month, or £19.49 for central heating cover and service, or £26.48 for with home emergency cover on top (all AA policies are cheaper for AA members).