As part of the proposals to be eligible for the domestic RHI, customers must use an MCS certificated installer and an MCS certificated product. This is a great boost for MCS installers certificated for the eligible renewable heat technologies. It is proposed to work in a similar way to the Feed-in Tariff, in which the consumer must supply a valid MCS certificate when applying for the domestic RHI.
Leading on from this, payments for the domestic RHI are proposed to work on a deemed basis (based on a calculation of the expected heat usage for the property). MCS certificated installers will be responsible for providing and checking the calculations for deemed heat usage. It is these figures that will be used to determine how much an individual customer is paid.
The government is keen to raise the performance of renewable heat technologies with the introduction of metering. One proposal for this would be to meter and check one installation per installer. This may then include the installer receiving industry recognition for installations which meet the required standard. It is hoped this will increase the number of installations as the consumer gains more confidence in the technology and the installer. Although the consultation has now closed, the document is still available on the DECC website (www.decc.gov.uk) if you would like to review the other incentive proposals being put forward as part of this consultation.
The results of the consultation are due to be published early 2013, with the domestic scheme expected to be introduced from summer 2013.