Posted: 10 July, 2020. Written by Virginia Graham
Renewable Energy Consumer Code (RECC) this week urged Government to ensure future support for low carbon heating promotes the sector and protects consumers.
Commenting on proposals for grants to cover part of the cost of an air-source heat pump, RECC urged Government to ensure the grants were sufficient to fund heating systems most suitable for consumers' properties and usage. It also urged Government to make sure the grants were linked to adequate levels of energy efficiency improvements and access to interest-free finance to cover the balance of the cost.
RECC stressed air source heat pumps were not suitable for all properties, do not necessarily represent beest value for money in terms of CO2 savings, can increase a household's overall energy costs and require adapted radiators, pipework and underfloor heating to work effectively.
RECC also recommended that the proposed voucher redemption system be tightened up to ensure it did not encourage mis-selling and poor quality installations, and that consumers had access to independent information on suitability, performace, energy costs and value for money.
RECC included results of a survey of its heat installer members' views in its response. The majority of those who responded stressed that the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive was far preferable to a programme of upfront grants paying for just a small proportion of the total system cost.
You can read the full response here: