Sustainable Crediton's Warm Homes Project Extended until end of
June
Originally due to end 31st March, due to the tight time frames
and pressure from the Communities, DECC has extended the project
end date to the 30th June. This means we can offer our
remaining funds to anyone interested in having a heat pump, or
biomass boiler or solar hot water panels fitted before the end of
June. We can offer capital grants of £800 towards the cost of solar
thermal panels and £1650 for air source heat pumps, £1750 for
biomass boilers and £2050 for ground source heat pumps. These
amounts are significantly higher than can be obtained outside our
scheme. Seven householders have or are in the process of installing
systems in their homes right now, whilst six are still considering
their options.
Sustainable Crediton was granted £39,950 under the
Department of Energy and Climate Change's (DECC) Renewable Heat
Premium Payment (RHPP) Communities Scheme to install
renewable heating in homes which were primarily reliant on fossil
fuels for their main heating.
We initially received twenty four expressions of interest from
homeowners across Crediton and District. We selected four renewable
heating installers and one insulation contractor to provide surveys
and quotations to the homeowners. The time frame for the work was
challenging as the Government said we had to complete most of the
work by the 31st March. As we weren't given the go ahead
to commit funds until just before Christmas this has proved very
difficult not just for us but also for the other 37 communities
involved in the scheme. For various reasons eleven of the original
householders have dropped out of the project, meaning we still have
a large proportion of our funding available.
Bill Wright has recently had an air source heat pump installed
in his home. " We registered an interest with Sustainable Crediton
for the RHPP grant late in 2012. Having had notification of
the agreed funding, we went ahead with a couple of quotations from
the list of suppliers partnering with Sustainable Crediton.
Having selected one ( South West Heat Pumps Ltd ) the work
commenced in early February. Our old boiler system was
removed as were the header tanks in the loft. We had a
pressurised system installed with a 16 Kwh Air Source Heat
Pump. There were a couple of teething problems which were
quickly sorted out and the system has been running very well.
We have hot water on demand and very efficient central
heating. We submitted the relevant paperwork as soon as we
could to the Energy Savings Trust offices in Edinburgh and
the money was credited to our bank account (in full) within two
weeks. We're quite happy to let people see the set up if they're in
any doubt. Our grateful thanks to Charles and Linda for their work
in researching this and thereby obtaining the enhanced grant."
Anyone interested in registering an interest in the project
should contact Linda on 01363 777624 or Charles on 01363 866106.
More information can be found here
RHI/RHPP Announcement
On 26 March, DECC published their Heat Strategy which provides
an update on the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme and the
Renewable Heat Incentive.
The following key points:
RHI
- New timetable for the Renewable Heat Incentive (domestic)
launch alongside plans to extend RHPP 2 in the meantime:
- RHPP (for householders and social landlords only) scheme to be
extended until the end of March 2014
- Details of how the RHI will work for domestic use to be
revealed in Summer 2013
- RHI domestic expected to be up and running in Spring 2014
- Non domestic RHI tariff review: DECC plans to consult on
increased tariffs for some technologies where the evidence suggests
a change needs to be made.
- Expanding the non-domestic RHI: DECC consulted on expanding the
non-domestic RHI scheme to include further technologies in
September 2012 and will confirm the way forward in Summer
2013.
RHPP
- As with the existing scheme, the extension continues to offer
one-off grants to householders across England, Scotland and Wales
to help with the cost of installing renewable heating technologies
and will also include a competition for registered social landlords
to bid for funds to install renewable heat technologies.
- Applicants should note that even though the RHPP scheme is
being extended, householders who applied before 31 March 2013 must
redeem their voucher by their stated voucher expiry date or 31
March 2013, whichever was sooner. If you miss the stated
deadline, you will be able to re-apply once the extension is live
from 1 April 2013.
- Social Landlords and Community groups benefitting from RHPP
funding awarded in 2012/13 still need to comply with the deadlines
they have agreed with EST.
Further details of this announcement can be found here
We are planning to have two speakers giving talks on low carbon
living and practical tips to make our homes more energy efficient
and warm in the winter.
The first confirmed speaker is Mukti Mitchell who sailed around
Britain in a 6 month voyage in the revolutionary zero-emission
Explorer Microyacht, to promote the benefits of low carbon living.
The tour visited forty ports including Swansea, Liverpool, Glasgow,
Edinburgh, Newcastle, London and Southampton, liaising with
regional and national media to reach an audience of 12 million. His
message is that low carbon lifestyles - a life that creates less
carbon dioxide - is easy, fun, saves money and improves your
quality of life. Mukti has written a book "The Guide to Low Carbon Lifestyles" which is
downloadable free of charge.
Crediton Community Energy Company
The Energy Group discussed at our last meeting the possibility
of such a community organisation to provide Crediton with renewable
energy. A thought or idea is the first step in the process of
actually making it happen. We are looking for help. For example:
are there farmers who are interested in anaerobic digestion or
businesses with large roofs suitable for PV panels who might like
to partner with the Crediton community in some way to make this
happen. We are open to ideas and offers of help.
Clean Energy Will Save Consumers Money
The impact of rising household energy bills will be greatly
reduced by climate change policies which could save consumers
around £166 by 2020, according to the energy and climate secretary,
Ed Davey. To read more follow this link.
An article from Yougen explaining why now is a good time to
install solar PV before the feed-in tariff is reduced further in
June and before solar panel prices begin to rise in price. Remember
we have installed over 70 sets of panels through our Solar
PV project.