18 Jun What Is The Renewable Heating Incentive?
The government RHI scheme was introduced to promote households and businesses to opt for renewable heating alternatives.
What’s the incentive?
The government is prepared to offer property owners money towards their heating costs as long as the heating comes from a renewable energy source. That’s why the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme was put into place.
There are two types of schemes in places – domestic and non-domestic.
Domestic: The domestic RHI scheme is an option if your renewable heating system only heats a single home for which you have a domestic EPC (Energy Performance Certificate). It’s typically used by homeowners, social or private landlords, tenants, and people that build their own homes.
Non-domestic: The non-domestic scheme is generally used by those with renewable heating systems in commercial, public, or industrial premises. This scheme tends to be a common option for small to large businesses, hospitals, and schools.
How does the domestic scheme work?
Overview: The domestic RHI has been put in place as an incentive to homeowners to push them to choose renewable heating systems when it comes to heating their homes.
Types of heating it applies to:
- Biomass boilers
- Solar water heating
- Certain heat pumps
Eligibility: If your property uses one of the renewable heating systems above and you own your home/property or are a private or social landlord you will be eligible to claim money back.
Payments: Payments are made every quarter for 7 years and are based on the amount of renewable heat made by your heating system.
How does the non-domestic scheme work?
Overview: The non-domestic RHI scheme is there to encourage businesses, the public sector, and non-profit organisations to install renewable heating systems by offering them a way to save money.
Types of heating it applies to:
- Biomass
- Heat pumps (ground source, water source, and air source)
- Deep geothermal
- Solar thermal collectors
- Biomethane and biogas
- Combined heat and power (CHP)
Eligibility: If your property uses one of the renewable heating systems above and your equipment was installed in England, Scotland, or Wales since the 15th July 2009 you are eligible for the non-domestic RHI scheme.
Payments: Payments are made quarterly over 20 years and are based on the heat output of your system.
Why has this scheme been put in place?
Switching to renewable heating systems will help the UK reduce its carbon emissions and meet the renewable energy targets set. Government advisors have called for low carbon heating to replace gas in all new build homes built after 2025 (Statista – https://bit.ly/3ipIqFE) and renewable heating will help us achieve this!
There has been a huge push to encourage the public to make more sustainable choices and one of the best ways to do this is to ensure you’re using renewable sources. Heating systems such as gas, electricity, and oil are damaging our environment and will soon run out of resources. That’s why we push to use heating systems such as biomass and air pumps.
Since starting in April 2014, the scheme has encouraged thousands of people to successfully join and benefit from payments! If you’d like to find out more about how you can apply for the renewable heating incentive scheme, you can find out more information here:
Domestic Scheme – https://www.gov.uk/domestic-renewable-heat-incentive
Non-domestic Scheme – https://www.gov.uk/non-domestic-renewable-heat-incentive
To find out what renewable heating system would work best for your requirements or to book a survey, click here: https://www.havenhomesolutions.co.uk/renewable-heating/