Incentives
What is the RHI scheme?
The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) is a government scheme that pays people that produce their own heating and hot water using renewable energy sources such as heat pumps or solar thermal panels. The scheme originally launched in 2011 but was only available to commercial properties however this changed in 2014 when the scheme was opened up to allow domestic homeowners to also benefit from the incentive. The Renewable Heat Incentive was due to finish on the 31 st of March 2021 however, due to it being such a success, this deadline has been extended to the 31 st of March 2022 so there is still plenty of time for you to earn guaranteed tax free money!
How it works?
The payments are made on a quarterly basis and last for a total of 7 years. In addition, the tariff amounts are RPI index linked, so as inflation increases over time, the tariff rates above will increase with it. The RPI increases will be applied to the rates on 1 st April each year.
Much like with the feed-in tariff, once you sign up to the RHI you will be locked in at the tariff rate that you initially get – so if you installed an Air Source Heat Pump today you would get a payment of 10.85p per kWh of renewable heat you produced for the next 7 years (although it will increase with the RPI each year).