Monday, 13 June 2022

The Renewable Heat Initiative

The principle of the RHI is commendable, but it is an initiative which only businesses and a few already well-endowed individuals can take advantage of. There is nothing on the same scale to help people at the bottom of the economic ladder. Open Democracy writes:

Tory MPs, Lords members and multi-millionaire landowners are raking in eye-watering sums from a taxpayer-funded subsidy to heat their mansions even as millions face fuel poverty this winter, openDemocracy can reveal.

Among the beneficiaries identified by this website are international trade secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who has claimed £80,000; Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the MP who headed a parliamentary inquiry into whether the scheme was delivering value for money; and two members of the House of Lords, one of whom is in line to make more than £1m.

The non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) was meant to encourage a shift to cleaner energy and has been running since 2011. Under the scheme, anyone who installs an eligible ‘green’ boiler in a business or public sector building receives 20 years of payouts for their trouble.


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