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Biomass boilers that burn woodpellets are one of the technologies eligible for payments under the renewable heat incentive
Biomass boilers that burn woodpellets are one of the technologies eligible for payments under the renewable heat incentive Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy
Biomass boilers that burn woodpellets are one of the technologies eligible for payments under the renewable heat incentive Photograph: Alamy Photograph: Alamy

UK's pioneering low-carbon heating scheme helps just 79 households

This article is more than 9 years old

Fears that renewable heat incentive hailed as 'first of its kind in the world' will repeat slow take-up of green deal scheme

The much-delayed government scheme to encourage Britons to switch to low-carbon heating has helped just 79 homes install renewable heat technologies in the two months since it launched, it has emerged.

Greg Barker, the climate minister, trumpeted the scheme as the “first of its kind in the world” when it was launched in April, but already there are fears it will go the way of the green deal – the government’s energy efficiency programme that achieved very low take-up.

The renewable heat incentive (RHI) offers payments to switch to low-carbon heating technologies, such as boilers that burn wood pellets. Although it is open to everyone, it will be most attractive to the 4m homes in the UK that are off the gas grid.

“This is not marginal ... this is a big, big scheme,” Chris Huhne, then energy and climate change secretary, said when it was unveiled in 2011. Repeatedly delayed, the scheme was finally launched on 9 April.

In its first two months of operation, 203 households applied for the subsidy to install new heating systems, according to data from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc). Of those, just 79 homes have received accreditation so far.

The scheme is also open to households that have installed low-carbon heating systems in recent years. Only 2,093 of these applied for the subsidy by the end of May, with 1,075 achieving accreditation. DECC says application dates were staggered for those with legacy systems to manage demand and it anticipates a lot more applications in the summer and autumn.

Climate change writer Chris Goodall said the government had failed to promote the scheme and take-up so far was “dreadful”.

“This was meant to be the main scheme to reduce carbon emissions from heating, which is the single most important cause of global warming in the UK.

“Although [it] offers some tempting payments, the signs so far are that this scheme will fail in the same way as the green deal has done,” he wrote on his Carbon Commentary blog.

Others said the RHI was badly designed for the people that most need it, such as households in fuel poverty. The risk of fuel poverty is far greater in properties off the gas grid because they are reliant on more expensive fuel.

Nick Chase, head of rural insight at Action with Communities in Rural England, said: “In terms of investment, for anyone who is fuel poor [the RHI] is out of the question. Let’s not beat about the bush, it’s a middle-class thing.”

But RHI proponents said the cost of installing renewable heating would fall as a result of the scheme.

James Court, head of public affairs at the Renewable Energy Association, said: “You would expect prices to come down when the scheme gets established. Hopefully, it will be a lot more affordable in the coming years.”

He said it was too early to write the RHI off. “Comparisons to the green deal would be unfair. It’s been reasonably hot [over the past two months]. People aren’t thinking about upgrading their heating.”

Decc said the domestic RHI was proving “popular” and would support jobs in renewable technologies.

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