According to OFTEC (the Oil Firing Technical Association), the new domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) scheme due to be launched by the Government imminently is costly, impractical and unlikely to attract mass consumer support.
The £1.8 billion Government grant scheme is designed to reduce the country's CO2 emissions by encouraging rural home owners in England, Wales and Scotland to switch to renewable heating systems.

However, OFTEC says it looks set to be as unsuccessful as the Government's flagship Green Deal scheme to which only a few hundred of the nearly 150,000 households undertaking an assessment have signed up.

Figures from the Energy Saving Trust support estimates from OFTEC which show that homeowners face upfront costs of between £8,000 and £14,000 to install renewable heating systems, depending on the size of the property and the technology used.

OFTEC believes the initial cost of installing renewable technologies is likely to be prohibitive for all but the wealthy few, unless homeowners are prepared to take out a loan.

OFTEC director general, Jeremy Hawksley, said: 'Whilst we support the need to reduce CO2 emissions from heating and recognise the potential of an RHI policy, the current scheme is highly unlikely to benefit the large majority of rural households as they simply will not be able to afford it.

'We suggest a more stepped transition to low carbon heat which, amongst a range of approaches, would see hybrid solutions with condensing boilers working in tandem with heat pumps. Supported by the Heating and Hot Water Industry Council (HHIC), this option is recognised in the RHI although only the renewable element of the heat will be grant aided and the high initial capital cost of the renewable equipment will deter the vast majority of homeowners from going down this road.'

OFTEC also suggests that the boiler scrappage scheme which ran in 2010 should be re-introduced to encourage homeowners to replace old, inefficient boilers with modern condensing boilers.

Jeremy Hawksley continued: 'A simple, boiler scrappage scheme would attract far more supporters than the proposed RHI and thus go further in helping households reduce CO2 output - as well as cut fuel bills.'