Cathy Debenham, founder of YouGen says:

“It's great news to hear that there's going to be research and monitoring into how people use renewable heat, and how well it works in practice. I thoroughly applaud that aspect of the scheme.

“However, the government still hasn't announced what rates will be available for the domestic renewable heat incentive, and what the eligibility criteria are. Without this information, investment in renewable heat is still prohibitively expensive for most people.

“In my conversations with installers about the subject, most have dismissed the renewable heat payments as too small to make any difference. A change in the price of oil is much more likely to get their phones ringing.

“I realise that this is a difficult chicken and egg situation. Without the findings of their research, the eventual Renewable Heat Incentive probably won't be as effective in incentivising uptake of solar thermal, biomass boilers and heat pumps. But unless people know the long term financial implications of investment, these relatively small grants aren’t likely to be enough to persuade them to take an expensive gamble.”