A NEW scheme announced by the Government to encourage rural home owners to switch to renewable heating systems is unlikely to benefit the 31,000 households across Herefordshire and Worcestershire who cannot use mains gas, because as renewables are still too costly and impractical to install, even under the new scheme, an industry body has claimed.

The Renewable Heat Incentive is designed to reduce carbon emissions and offers incentive payments over seven years to households switching to renewable technologies such as heat pumps and biomass boilers. However, OFTEC, the trade organisation for oil central heating, estimate that the high upfront costs to install renewables will still deter the majority of households, making the scheme only fit for the wealthy. Depending on the property, the current costs of installing renewable technologies covered by the domestic RHI are between £7,000 and £19,000, which most homeowners are unlikely to be able to afford without taking out a loan. Additionally, renewables may not guarantee cheaper annual running costs.

Jeremy Hawksley, director general of OFTEC, said: “At face value RHI sounds attractive but in reality it is likely to be too expensive and impractical for all but the wealthiest homeowners to take-up, as there is no financial support to cover the high upfront installation costs. Additionally, for some renewable technologies to work effectively homes need to meet high insulation standards. However, many rural properties are among the least energy efficient in the whole of Europe, so it would be difficult and quite expensive to bring the majority of these homes up to the standard required for renewables to be a suitable option."