Harry Shepherd-Cross, director of Ardenham Energy, has criticised the government’s recent announcement that the launch of the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for the domestic market will be delayed until mid-2013.
He commented, “The delays to the RHI in the domestic market are inexcusable. DECC is still caught up with the aftermath of the Feed-in-Tariffs debacle and its obsession with cost control via an arbitrary ‘budget’, and this is distracting away from the work needed to get the scheme fully operational.
“The government’s ambition to have 1.2 million heat pumps installed by 2020 is a pipedream without the RHI. So far we only have 28,000 so need to install more than five times this cumulative total per annum to hit their target.
“The Renewable Heat Premium Payment is doing next to nothing to stimulate demand. The government’s own customer insight research shows that this has not been a determining factor in people’s decision to proceed. They need to get on with finalising the scheme, promote it, and end the uncertainty which damages an important new green industry for the UK.”
