Notice

11 January 2021: Changes to the domestic RHI regulations: government response

Updated 3 April 2022

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

Update 26 March 2021

The amending regulations incorporating these changes were laid in Parliament in January and come into force on 1 April 2021.

The Changes to the domestic RHI Regulations notice requested industry views on:

  • proposed changes to the ’12 month rule’ to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on certain consumers. This is the rule that accreditation applications to the scheme have to be made within 12 months of the installation being commissioned
  • 2 minor administrative changes to the domestic RHI scheme:
    • our intention to update references to the HIES code of practice
    • revising the degression triggers to remove installations that reached the end of their 7 year term during the 2021-2022 extension year

We received 2 responses relating to the ’12 month rule’, both from members of the public who had been caught out by this rule as a result of COVID-related restrictions.

We did not receive any responses relating to the revised degression triggers or the update to HIES’ code of practice.

BEIS remains committed to trying to support consumers who have had their RHI applications impacted by COVID-19 and therefore intends to proceed with the proposed changes to the Domestic RHI, subject to parliamentary timelines.