Key terms explained for the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive

The commissioning date of your heating system can be found on your MCS certificate.

Your commissioning date is important because it will go towards determining:

• when you can apply to the scheme; and
• the tariff rate that you will receive.

‘Commissioning’ is a technical term and will often be the same as the installation date. However, there is an important difference between the two, and it is the commissioning date that is referred to in the scheme regulations.

The installation date is the date on which the equipment for the heating system was installed.

The commissioning date of the heating system is the date on which any tests and procedures that amount to the usual industry practices for that type of system were completed. These tests will demonstrate that the heating system is operating correctly, generating heat, and that it complies with industry standards. The commissioned date is shown on your MCS certificate. Installers need to issue a certificate for an installation within 14 days of commissioning.

The commissioning date is also the start of the window in which you are able to make an application. You have one year from the commissioning date shown on your MCS certificate to submit an application to us. However, if your installation is commissioned on or after 1 March 2019, you can apply at any time before the scheme closes on midnight at the end of 31 March 2022.

If you submit an application to Ofgem outside of this time period, you will not be eligible for the scheme.

 

Applications submitted for the Domestic RHI on or after 1 April 2016 have their tariffs adjusted in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). The CPI is a measure of inflation and CPI rates are produced annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Tariffs will be adjusted in accordance with CPI on 1 April every year. If you have grant funding that will be deducted from your payments you should be aware that the amount to be deducted will also be subject to CPI adjustment.

Applications submitted for the Domestic RHI before 1 April 2016 have their tariffs adjusted in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI).

 

This key term is relevant to Assignment of Rights, which came into effect on 27 June 2018.

When investor registration is successful, the contract(s) that the investor submitted to us, which is to be used in their agreements with applicants, will be issued with a Contract ID. This number will reference that approved contract on our system.

For more information, see the Guide to Assignment of Rights.

 

A cooker stove is a biomass stove which is capable of generating heat for the purpose of cooking food. The cooker stove must be designed and installed to ensure that heat generated for that purpose is incidental to, and cannot be controlled separately from, any heat generated for the purpose of space heating or domestic hot water heating.

For more information, see Section 3, Chapter 2 of the Essential guide.