‘Calculator’ shows how renewable heating adds up

30 Jul 2014 12:57 PM

Households can now get a clear idea of the payments they could receive if they install a renewable heating system, thanks to a new online service. 

By tapping a few details about their property into the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) calculator, people can see instantly how much money they may be paid through the scheme, according to what type of renewable heating system they install.

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Climate Change, Amber Rudd MP said:

“Renewable technology is helping thousands of people keep their homes warm and reduce their energy bills at the same time, not to mention reducing their carbon footprint.

“The Domestic RHI helps households offset the cost of installing renewable heating systems. From today, by entering just a few simple details into this calculator, people can now instantly see how much they could be paid through the scheme.”

The domestic RHI is the world’s first long-term financial support programme for renewable heating, offering incentive payments to homeowners to offset the cost of installing low carbon technologies (such as biomass boilers, heat pumps and solar thermal systems) to keep their properties warm.

The scheme is open to home owners, social and private landlords, and people who build their own homes. It is available to households both on and off the gas grid. To date 4,448 households are already benefitting from the RHI since the scheme launched in April 2014.

Roy Powel installed an air source heat pump at his barn conversion in Sussex in 2009, to replace a liquid petroleum gas system (LPG). Since then the house has been warmer and cheaper to heat.

He expects his RHI payments to be £7,700 over seven years, making a significant contribution towards the £11,000 cost of installing the system. He is also saving around £1,800 a year in fuel costs. Roy is a specialist in renewable heating systems, and is pleased to see the launch of the RHI calculator.

He said: “The calculator is very quick and easy to use and will help give people an idea of what they could receive through the RHI. This will no doubt help them make decisions about what sort of heating system to install and will hopefully encourage them to get a Green Deal Assessment for their home.”

Anna Livesey, from the Sustainable Energy Association, said: “We support the launch of the DECC RHI calculator as a simple way to provide consumers with an estimate of RHI payments. The calculator will help raise general awareness of the domestic RHI and support installers in explaining the scheme to their customers.”

Notes to editors

The technologies currently covered by the scheme are:

• Biomass heating systems, which burn fuel such as wood pellets, chips or logs to provide central heating and hot water in a home. Biomass-only boilers are designed to provide heating using a ‘wet system’ (eg through radiators) and provide hot water. Pellet stoves with integrated boilers are designed to burn only wood pellets and can heat the room they are in directly, as well as provide heat to the rest of the home using a ‘wet system’ (eg through radiators) and provide hot water.

• Ground or water source heat pumps, which extract heat from the ground or water. This heat can then be used to provide heating and/or hot water in a home.

• Air to water heat pumps, which absorb heat from the outside air. This heat can then be used to provide heating and/or hot water in a home.

• Solar thermal panels, which collect heat from the sun and use it to heat up water which is stored in a hot water cylinder. The two types of panels that are eligible are evacuated tube panels and liquid-filled flat plate panels.

Technology	Tariff
Air-source heat pumps	7.3p/kWh
Ground and water-source heat pumps	18.8p/kWh
Biomass-only boilers and biomass pellet stoves with integrated boilers	12.2p/kWh
Solar thermal panels (flat plate and evacuated tube for hot water only)	19.2 p/kWh

Only one space heating system is allowed per property but homeowners can apply for solar thermal for hot water and a space heating system.

The guaranteed payments are made quarterly over seven years for households in England, Wales and Scotland. (Northern Ireland has its own RHI scheme).

The scheme is designed to bridge the gap between the cost of fossil fuel heat sources and renewable heat alternatives.

To find out more about the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, to book a Green Deal Assessment or to receive free and impartial advice, call the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234 (England and Wales) or Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282 (Scotland), or visit the Energy Saving Trust website.

For further details about the scheme including eligibility criteria and how to apply visit the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive section of the Ofgem website.

To see a breakdown of the approved renewable heating systems visit theDomestic Renewable Heat Incentive public reports section of the Ofgem website.