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Hey all, Apologies if I'm posting this in the wrong place.... Couldn't find a relevant thread... So we are nearing completion, we have been living at the house ie. using it in a domestic sense, for just over a year. We installed an Air Source Heat Pump and got a loan from Home Energy Scotland. We were assured that the Domestic RHI would pay for our loan. We have our MSC Certificate and our EPC. Ofgem and the Domestic RHI team are completely ignoring all emails from me for some reason. We're hugely aware of the fact that the deadline is coming up - they questioned how many days we had lived in the house, I told them we were here every day using it and the heat pump every day for the last year. I've chased the guy 4 times - no response. I'm on Twitter trying to get through to Ofgem. I'm trying them on the phone but keep missing their opening hours. I just want to find out if they're trying to dodge me, and if other people in a similar situation got the RHI all sorted? I'm starting to worry, as we really can't afford these monthly payments and would DEFINITELY not have chosen to go with an ASHP otherwise... Thanks! Joanna

I've just been reading the latest (rather badly put together) update on the review that Ofgem are undertaking looking at electricity pricing, specifically the means by which the "fixed" element of the network cost is recovered. The latest update (from yesterday) is here: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2017/11/tcr_working_paper_nov17_final.pdf and I think they are way off the mark in the way they are looking at the costs of recovering the fixed operating cost element. We have a market that has been wholly artificially created by government, who have arbitrarily decided to divide electricity supply into three main sectors; those responsible for generation, those responsible for network provision, updating and maintenance and those responsible for selling electricity to consumers. In the first and last instance, a semi-competitive market exists. Anyone can invest in becoming a generator, in essence, it's pretty much a free market, with some constraints in terms of regulatory interference aimed at retaining a reliable mix of generation sources. Similarly, anyone can invest in becoming and electricity retailer, a somewhat simpler task that becoming a generator. Stuck in the middle we have a major lump of the fixed cost element, and this is not competed at all, it is divvied up into Distribution Network Operators that have a monopoly in their particular regions. It seems that it is recovering the costs incurred by these monopolies is thing that is vexing Ofgem, with them suggesting alternatives to the fixed daily standing charge as ways of covering these "fixed" costs. I'm not at all convinced that they are going about this the right way. There seems little incentive to make the DNOs more efficient, and consumers have no control at all over DNO imposed charges that form a part of their bill. My personal view is that a good starting point would be to remove the standing charge system completely, and therefore force those who use more of the network capacity (the high users of energy) to pay more towards the maintenance and upkeep of the network. It'll be interesting to see how Ofgem are steered and directed by the energy industry to deliver a more profitable scheme, as I'm certain that is what the outcome will be, as Ofgem seems a pointless and toothless body that is little more than a talking shop to allow the industry to do as it wishes.......................

THE RENEWABLE HEAT INCENTIVE: A REFORMED SCHEME Government response to consultation