RHI Reforms
Did you know that if you use a renewable energy source to heat your home or business, then you are entitled to quarterly payments from the government?
The Renewable Heat Incentive is intended to encourage people to heat their homes and water through renewable heat technologies, with a financial incentive. Never before has this been done anywhere else in the World, and it hopes to encourage the population to reach the 2020 UK target of 12% of heat coming from renewable means.
It has been available across England, Scotland and Wales since April 2009, and provides financial support to the home or business owner with means of using renewable energy sources for seven / twenty years respectively.
If you have, or are thinking about installing the following, then you will be entitled to claim for RHI support:
– Air to water heat pumps.
– Ground to water heat pumps.
– Solar thermal panels providing hot water to your home.
– Biomass pellet stoves with integrated boilers providing space heating.
– Biomass (wood fuelled) boilers
There have been a number of important changes to the regulatory amendments during the spring of 2016, which are likely to affect you if you claim RHI.
The Energy Saving Trust have detailed below what these new changes are:
– New applicants with a self-build property will be exempt from the 183 days occupancy declaration.
– New applicants will not be required to provide a Green Deal Advice Report (GDAR).
– Clarification on Ofgem’s powers to request a new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) and amend the RHI payments accordingly if needed.
– Tariffs will be subject to change by the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Price Index (RPI) (Only for participants with a tariff start date from 1st April 2016).
– Aims to ensure consistency in the rounding of tariffs.
– Aligning the RHI sustainability criteria with that set out in the Renewables Obligation Order 2015.
For more of a detailed look at these changes please take a look at the Energy Saving Trust website here.
RHI and The Reina Group
Here at The Reina Group we have over 10 years experience in the plumbing business, both domestically and commercially, and focus on four key areas of the industry. Predominantly this involves heat pumps, to help provide you with your own renewable energy source. We are one of the UK’s leading heat pump installations firms, specialising in environmentally friendly and RHI-backed MSC heat pumps.
We are able to provide you with the best option to suit your specific circumstance by offering different types of heat pumps from ground or water source to air source heat pumps. Ground source heat pumps take heat from the ground through pipes, laid in trenches or boreholes to heat your home and water. Air source pumps work similar to the ground source heat pumps, but extract heat from the air to provide you with heat and hot water.
To see what we can do to help heat your home or business in a more environmentally-friendly way, or do find out how to be entitled to RHI payments then please do not hesitate to give our friendly and knowledgeable team a call on 01303 248648.
Alternatively, why not take a look at our guide to heat pumps to find out more, or check out the RHI calculator to see how much you could be entitled to.