Member Article

Does money grow on trees?

On the 12th July 2013 the long awaited Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive was announced by Greg Barker MP.

The new Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for householders is designed to drive forward the uptake of renewable heat technologies in homes across Britain in order to help the Government meet its carbon reduction targets and help consumers save money on energy bills. The RHI is the first scheme of its kind in the world, and promises those who install biomass boilers 12.2p for every kilowatt hour of heat they produce.

The Wood Heating Company, which is based in Cramlington, has a biomass heritage that stretches back over 30 years. They have been helping those in the non-domestic sector make the most of the existing scheme which has been up and running since November 2011. They have installed two separate projects comprising twin 100kw Herz wood chip boilers for John Trevelyan, owner of Netherwitton Estate when he decided that the combination of rising oil prices and the new Government scheme made biomass too appealing for him to resist.

Mr Trevelyan said: “I first looked at biomass heating in 2005, but at that stage it did not stack up financially. Now that oil has gone from around 28p to 65p per litre the maths are very different.”

“Also, the introduction of the RHI tipped the balance in favour of biomass – or in my case specifically wood chip.

“I am very pleased with the work done by The Wood Heating Company. The projects have both run on time and have stuck to the agreed budget.”

“They are professional and communicate well and understand the client’s needs. The icing on the cake has been their after-sales service, which in my case has been second to none.”

“Having the Managing Director come out to sort a minor problem on a bank holiday, even after being told it can wait until normal working hours, is pretty special customer service in my opinion.”

The Wood Heating Company has its own in-house design and project management team who handle every aspect of their customers’ projects, taking full responsibility for the design, installation, commissioning and maintenance of the installation.

Managing Director Mike Blakeley says: “To the best of our knowledge we are the only biomass boiler installer in the region who can offer this level of service, and we believe it is critically important in providing the very best customer experience.”

“The announcement of the Domestic RHI will allow people to invest in green technologies with confidence and provides an added incentive because they can make some extra cash as a reward for generating their own heat; who wouldn’t want that!”

The new domestic scheme will be made available to homeowners, private and social landlords, third party owners of heating systems and people who build their own homes.

Payments will be made on a quarterly basis for seven years. The tariffs have been set at a level that reflects the expected cost of renewable heat generation over 20 years. In most cases payments will be made on the estimated heat demand of a property – determined by an EPC assessment as part of a Green Deal Assessment (GDA).

Applicants will need to complete a GDA before submitting their application and must ensure they have met minimum loft and cavity wall insulation requirements, where appropriate, and both the equipment and installer must be MCS certified.

Householders may be able to get help with the upfront costs of renewable heating equipment under the Government’s Green Deal scheme. The Green Deal enables people to pay for energy efficiency improvements through savings on their energy bills and householders will be able to take up Green Deal Finance and claim the RHI payments. Until the tariff scheme commences in Spring 2014 payments are also available under the Renewable Heat Premium Payment (RHPP) scheme, although this will be deducted from any future RHI payments to avoid a double subsidy.

For more information, help and advice on how you can benefit from the RHI scheme telephone 01670 739197, email sales@twhcbiomass.com or visit www.twhcbiomass.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by lazy grace .