This is a UK Government scheme designed to help you afford renewable technologies for your home, by providing funding for technologies such as:

• Solar thermal panels
• Heat pumps ( air source, ground source or water source), and
• Biomass boilers

The amount received as part of the Renewable Heat Premium Payment scheme depends on which technology you are applying for. The voucher values for each of the technologies is listed below:

Who can apply for the Renewable Heat Premium Payment?

If you live in England, Scotland or Wales, you are eligible to apply for the Renewable Heat Premium Payment.

No matter how you currently heat your home and how much fuel you already use, anyone can apply for the solar thermal panel funding. However, if you currently rely on oil, liquid gas, solid fuel or electricity then you could also apply for air, ground - or water - source heat pumps and biomass boilers.

So only those who do not currently use gas as their main heating fuel can apply for these technologies.

If you have any further questions about whether you can apply, please feel free to give one of our friendly advisors a call on: 0800 512 012.

What do you have to do before applying?

• The property must be owned by you or if you are a tenant you must be purchasing the system yourself and have permission from the owner of the property
• Property must have loft insulation to 250mm and cavity wall insulation (where practical)
• You should have all necessary planning and environmental permissions in place
• Getting your home insulated is actually really easy and relatively cheap, so if you don’t already have a fully insulated house, check our Grants and Offers Database for cheap insulation offers or even grants!

The product and installer you go with must be certified under the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS), Solar Keymark (or equivalent). Finally, not only is the scheme a great excuse to install technologies that will dramatically reduce your energy costs at home but the Government are also keen to learn as much as possible about renewable technologies. And for that they need your feedback.

As a requirement for the Renewable Heat Premium Payment you will be asked to submit information about how the technology you have installed is performing in its environment and you might be selected to have some monitoring equipment installed at the same time as your technology.

How to apply?

If you’ve read the above carefully and you feel satisfied that you are eligible to apply for a Renewable Heat Premium Payment, you can

Apply for the scheme now >

What next?

If you meet all the criteria you will receive a voucher (time-scale dependent on the technology you are installing) and you will need to sign and return the voucher with a copy of the invoice from your installer and certificate from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (or equivalent) once you have installed your technology.

When everything has been checked and signed - you will receive the money directly into your bank account.

Other considerations:

• No vouchers will be valid beyond 31st March 2012 and the expiry date on your voucher may be earlier than this
• The offer is cash limiting. Once the budget for the scheme is reached (and there is a review point at £10m), there will be no more RHPP.

Final checklist:

• Checking the technology is suitable for your home. Try our Home Energy Generation Selector tool which will identify the most suitable technologies for your home
• Ensuring you have all the basic energy efficient measures installed in your home (cavity and loft installation)
• Investigating all the various renewable technologies on offer and calling our advice line on: 0800 512 012 for more advice and information
• Try getting a minimum of three quotes from MCS certified installers (or equivalent)
• Checking planning permission (particularly for Air Source Heat Pumps)

Reference http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk