Chancellor George Osborne has announced that the Renewable Heat Incentive will see its budget increase to £1.15 billion to 2020 but has promised substantial reform of the scheme.
The chancellor made the announcement during his joint spending review and autumn statement this afternoon. “We will reform the Renewable Heat Incentive to save £700 million,” he said.
Detail included within the autumn statement documents published shortly after confirmed that the RHI’s budget to 2020 has been increased from the originally allocated £860 million to £1.15 billion, however there have been no details as yet as to how the scheme will be reformed in order to deliver £700 million of saving.
Precise details of the future of the scheme have yet to be announced.
In a separate announcement the government has committed £300 million to developing 200 local heat networks – enough to power 400,000 homes – and enabled them to leverage some £2 billion in private investment.
“By the end of the Parliament the government expects to have incentivised enough additional renewable heat to warm the equivalent of over 500,000 homes,” the government’s spending review document states.
This is a developing story and will be updated as and when more detail is available.
