It adds that such a delay risks damaging more than just the credibility of the policy as, in the Commercial RHI sector, it also risks damaging specific industries and businesses since there are current policy distortions which need to be rapidly resolved.
The HPA has now called on the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) to embark on three vital actions.
1) Communicate very clearly to the market that DECC are committed to Domestic RHI, and positively review the incentives available to householders in the intervening period.
2) Urgently revise the tariffs for Commercial RHI to remove current distortions and introduce Enhanced Preliminary Accreditation for larger projects.
3) Increase funding for social housing (landlords) and move as soon as possible to a predictable structure which will allow social landlords to plan ahead rather than using (discriminatory) wasteful competitions.
HPA president, Tony Bowen, said: “DECC state their strong and continuing commitment to the RHI scheme, but we need a rapid decisions so that current market distortions can be corrected and that the market can be given enough detail to provide future certainty.”