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The Government has said it wants to fit 600,000 heat pumps in UK homes each year by 2028. Install an eligible system before March 2022 and you can receive quarterly cash payments over seven years for the heat generated by your renewable heat system.
It is called the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme which offers the incentives for owners to change, though the seven years of payments comes along with a ban on the installations of gas boilers from 2040 in all new homes.
The gas boiler ban was originally scheduled for 2025 but due to the heavy expenses of the net-zero efforts combined with a revenue loss from the reduction in co2 taxes, the government requires more time to find how to find the funding. It is still unclear exactly how the heat and building policy will look but it is expected to be released in autumn 2021.
The incentive is only open to those changing their current boiler systems to biomass boilers, solar water heating and certain heat pumps. For those who are buying a new home then it is a requirement to use renewable heat without the 7 year benefit, but for those building their own home then you can apply.
Part of the carbon net-zero by 2050 goal, the RHI is changing the standards in new builds and looking to remove the older less eco-friendly practices that are set in the aging homes of England.
Change will not come cheap, with an air source heat pump costing between £9,000 to £13,000 to install. The variation is high due to the complexity of each install, and if the system uses above group air or underground pipes.
The heat pumps reach only 55 degrees centigrade while gas boilers are able to run at 85 degrees. This makes the one fits all plan ‘heat pump’ system very concerning for those who have larger houses or old English cottages which will struggle to run the home heating.
We covered last year the £3 billion pounds green home grant which would have worked with the RHI by offering grants for insulation and other eco home improvements, but unfortunately, to use a common phrase, ‘the government did a U-turn’ and cancelled the plan in April 2021 due to the scheme only reaching 10% of it’s target goal.
With this in the back of owners minds, it makes it more challenging for people to stand behind a 7 year commitment to help offset a potential £13,000 home upgrade.
