Friday 30 September saw the £860m scheme to subsidise renewable heating pulled within hours of its intended launch. It’s thought this will be another blow to confidence in the government’s green energy commitment with far-reaching consequences for consumers and stakeholders.
The government’s ambitious plans for renewable heat have had the industry making preparations to deliver for the last six months. Now it’s feared that this latest action will not only lower confidence in the renewable industry as a whole but fuel increasing uncertainty around Feed In Tariffs and renewables and transport fuel obligation. It’s believed that Members of the Country Land and business Association that have already taken action will find themselves out of pocket as a result of the Department of Energy and Climatic Change’s (DECC) delay.
The DECC is blaming the European Commission for failing to give the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) an immediate green light. However, it’s generally felt that as the announcement for RHI funding was made in last October’s comprehensive spending review, the government has had plenty of time to address any issues and objections from the commission.
The problem appears to have arisen over RHI’s tariff for large biomass. The European Commission seems to feel it’s been set too high. Now the government has to hold everything up while it waits for written confirmation from the commission.
Nevertheless, the government seems determined to launch the scheme as soon as possible and believes the two month delay expected will be of minimal disruption to stakeholders. Not everyone shares that view because heat requirements are seasonal. It’s felt that a delay of two months at this time of year will put off many customers from making a firm decision until next year or, worse, some may opt to buy new fossil fuel boilers now that will be producing higher-carbon heat for the foreseeable future.
