Over 50,000 UK households have now installed biomass boilers, solar thermal systems or heat pumps under the government’s domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme.
It means these households are now generating up to 827,000MwH of heat, equivalent to 16.54MwH per household, and providing estimated carbon savings of 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 over the scheme’s 20-year operating period.
Although the scheme has been extended, the government is planning reforms to the RHI to expand the rollout of a wider range of low-carbon technologies and widening access to smaller households.
Key changes also include the introduction of ‘heat demand limits’ on larger homes and new rules allowing households to reassign their right to RHI payments to companies that have installed low-carbon technology, and higher tariff rates for heat pumps.
Gareth John, associate director of the RHI at Ofgem E-Serve, said: “Since the launch of the Domestic RHI programme we’ve worked hard to deliver government policy through efficient administration.
“We aim to provide clear guidance to homeowners and installers to make the process of applying for and complying with the Domestic RHI as straightforward as possible.”
During the last 12 months, Ofgem E-Serve said it has received more than 14,000 telephone enquiries and made decisions on 68.3 per cent of applications within 30 working days.
