Green Deal Advisory Reports ( GDARs ) and the Renewable Heat Incentive/Renewable Heat Payment Premium
Almost all of the heat we use for heating our homes and hot water today comes from burning fossil fuels. Only a very small proportion of households use renewable heating.
With this in mind, in 2011 the Government set up the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive ( RHI ), a financial incentive scheme to encourage uptake of renewable heating. In Spring 2014 the domestic RHI is being launched. The document describing this scheme is described in full in the DEC publication “Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive – the first step to transforming the way we heat our homes” ( July 12, 2013 ). The bottom line is that the government will pay the following to producers of energy using the following technologies
Air Source Heat Pump – 7.3p per kWh Biomass boiler – 12.2p per kWh
Ground Source Heat Pump – 18.8p per kWh Solar Thermal – 19.2p per kWh
For most people in Great Britain, gas heating is relatively cheap and convenient and there are only about 4 million households that use non-mains gas heating fuels, such as oil, LPG and electricity. However, as it costs much more to heat these homes, and they emit more carbon, switching to renewable heating could help many of them to save money on fuel bills and reduce emissions.
A one-off Renewable Heat Payment Premium ( RHPP ) is also available to contribute to the cost of installation as follows:
Air Source Heat Pump – up to £1,300 Biomass boiler - £2,000
Ground Source Heat Pump – up to £1,300 Solar Thermal - £600
For an application for RHI and/or RHPP there is the up-front cost of a Green Deal Advisory Report ( GDAR ) which quantifies the exact savings that are achievable by the fuel switch and, within it’s calculations, gives a figure for the heat requirements of the home. This figure is used as the basis of the RHI payment calculation.
Wirral EPCs will provide accurate GDARs for properties in the CH post code for just £150 ( Wirral ) to £185 ( North Wales ). When the Feed In Tariff of 43p per kWh for production of energy by solar PV was first offered a couple of years ago many people took advantage of that offer and are now reaping the financial benefits. The current tariff of 15.4p per kWh, less than 2 years later, is far less attractive. Likewise, there is now a very small “window of opportunity” for the installation of any of the above renewable heat technologies since RHPP applications are being received only up until March 2014!
Note: Wirral EPCs carry out energy surveys from which energy performance certificates ( EPCs ) are produced. Additionally, Wirral EPCs carry out occupancy assessments, which, together with their corresponding EPCs form Green Deal Advisory Reports.
To recap: EPC = £65 ( no VAT ), GDAR = £150 - 185 ( no VAT ) *
* Does not include the provision of a second ( post-installation ) EPC as this is not required for RHI/RHPP but may be required in the event of a green deal plan being used to finance the installation.
Almost all of the heat we use for heating our homes and hot water today comes from burning fossil fuels. Only a very small proportion of households use renewable heating.
With this in mind, in 2011 the Government set up the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive ( RHI ), a financial incentive scheme to encourage uptake of renewable heating. In Spring 2014 the domestic RHI is being launched. The document describing this scheme is described in full in the DEC publication “Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive – the first step to transforming the way we heat our homes” ( July 12, 2013 ). The bottom line is that the government will pay the following to producers of energy using the following technologies
Air Source Heat Pump – 7.3p per kWh Biomass boiler – 12.2p per kWh
Ground Source Heat Pump – 18.8p per kWh Solar Thermal – 19.2p per kWh
For most people in Great Britain, gas heating is relatively cheap and convenient and there are only about 4 million households that use non-mains gas heating fuels, such as oil, LPG and electricity. However, as it costs much more to heat these homes, and they emit more carbon, switching to renewable heating could help many of them to save money on fuel bills and reduce emissions.
A one-off Renewable Heat Payment Premium ( RHPP ) is also available to contribute to the cost of installation as follows:
Air Source Heat Pump – up to £1,300 Biomass boiler - £2,000
Ground Source Heat Pump – up to £1,300 Solar Thermal - £600
For an application for RHI and/or RHPP there is the up-front cost of a Green Deal Advisory Report ( GDAR ) which quantifies the exact savings that are achievable by the fuel switch and, within it’s calculations, gives a figure for the heat requirements of the home. This figure is used as the basis of the RHI payment calculation.
Wirral EPCs will provide accurate GDARs for properties in the CH post code for just £150 ( Wirral ) to £185 ( North Wales ). When the Feed In Tariff of 43p per kWh for production of energy by solar PV was first offered a couple of years ago many people took advantage of that offer and are now reaping the financial benefits. The current tariff of 15.4p per kWh, less than 2 years later, is far less attractive. Likewise, there is now a very small “window of opportunity” for the installation of any of the above renewable heat technologies since RHPP applications are being received only up until March 2014!
Note: Wirral EPCs carry out energy surveys from which energy performance certificates ( EPCs ) are produced. Additionally, Wirral EPCs carry out occupancy assessments, which, together with their corresponding EPCs form Green Deal Advisory Reports.
To recap: EPC = £65 ( no VAT ), GDAR = £150 - 185 ( no VAT ) *
* Does not include the provision of a second ( post-installation ) EPC as this is not required for RHI/RHPP but may be required in the event of a green deal plan being used to finance the installation.
