The Renewable Heat Incentive or RHI for short, is a Government financial incentive to encourage households and businesses to invest in renewable heat technologies.  For householders, this means you can earn payments for 7 years for a range of different technologies such as heat pumps, solar hot water systems and biomass stoves and boilers.

The payments will depend on the amount of heat that is being generated by the technology and they are paid quarterly in arrears by Ofgem.  Usually the payments are deemed, which means you receive the same amount each year regardless of how much renewable heat your equipment has generated.  The exception to this is if the systems feeds more than one property, if the property is commercial in use or if it is left empty for more than 6 months a year.  In these cases you are required to fit a heat meter and the RHI payments are then made based on the actual renewable heat generated.

More information about the RHI is available on the Ofgem website