From Guest Blogger Cass: Renewable Heat Initiative to Pump Money into Green Households

Good news for householders: the Government’s Renewable Heat Initiative (RHI) is being extended to residential properties.  This means that green homeowners could be paid hundreds of pounds a year for generating heat by solar thermal panels, biomass boilers and heat pumps.

This is an extension of the existing scheme which benefits non-residential properties.  It is backdated to mid 2009, so anyone who meets the criteria will be eligible for payments. It will be made available to homeowners, private and social landlords, third party owners of heating systems and people who build their own homes. Anyone who has installed one of the above renewable heat technologies since 15th July 2009 and meets the eligibility criteria will be able to join the scheme.

The objective is to drive forward uptake of renewable heat technologies in homes across Great Britain to cut carbon, help meet renewables targets and save money on bills. The scheme is a world first, and has been up and running for the non-domestic sector since November 2011.

Energy and Climate Change Minister Greg Barker said,“The Coalition is committed to helping hardworking families with the cost of living. Investing for the long term in new renewable heat technologies will mean cleaner energy and cheaper bills. So this package of measures is a big step forward in our drive to get innovative renewable heating kit in our homes.

“Householders can now invest in a range of exciting heating technologies knowing how much the tariff will be for different renewable heat technologies and benefit from the clean green heat produced.”

It works in a similar way to the Feed in Tariff (FIT) for solar panels.  The tariff levels have been set at 7.3p/kWh for air source heat pumps; 12.2p/kWh for biomass boilers; 18.8p/kWh for ground source heat pumps and at least 19.2 p/kWh for solar thermal. This could mean a regular windfall for  property owners who have invested in these technologies.

The scheme is intended to work in tandem with the Green Deal, and householders will have to have completed a GD assessment before applying.  Obviously this will mean that financially astute householders might gain twice from having the GD loan to install the green technology and also payments every quarter for 7 years as well.  It looks like a good deal, although of course individual circumstances may vary.

It is clear that Energy Performance is now a major factor in the rental and resale value of UK homes (see previous blogs on the subject) and it is good to see the government backing some of the other important technologies which reduce energy consumption as green living becomes the norm for many British homes.