The statistics for the Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) which were published yesterday have been regarded as ‘disappointing’ by some.

The RHI is a UK Government scheme set up to encourage the uptake of renewable heat technologies amongst householders, communities and businesses through financial incentives.

After one year of the domestic RHI being in place there have been 11,149 new installations. This represents fewer than 1,000 a month.

The Director at the Heating & Hotwater Industry Council (HHIC) Roger Webb said: “We are disappointed by the extremely low take up.

“HHIC’s own statistics show that there are 500 Solar Thermal installations a month, and industry estimates that there are over 1000 heat pumps installed every month, yet these installations do not appear to be using the RHI mechanism.

“We are worried that this represents a failure of the scheme to appeal to home owners and could indicate that the administrative costs around installation are too high.”

Mr Webb also said the installers of the systems are “disengaged”, he added: “We urge DECC to revise the RHI to make it more appealing and represent a better return for homeowners.”