Question of the week (and a lot of acronyms) - Yorkshire Heat Pumps

If I have to have a Green Deal Assessment (GDA) to get my domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (dRHI) deemed, why do I need to commission full Heat Loss Calculations (HLC)?

While domestic RHI payments are calculated using figures taken from your Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) - which is one of the outputs of the Green Deal Assessment - your installation must also be compliant with all the requirements of the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS). MCS compliance requires full heat loss calculations to generate the heating demand figure for your property for the MCS certificate. Without the MCS certificate you can't progress your claim for RHI.

There is overlap between the two, but sadly you do need both. What's perhaps even more confusing for customers is that it's unlikely the figures from the EPC and the HLC will match exactly. Small variations in room size calculations, for example, will result in a difference between the deemed demand in the EPC and the total heat requirement calculations in the HLC. A variance of 10 - 15% is not uncommon. It's worth noting you will be paid based on the figure from the EPC, not on the HLC, which may be lower.

So it makes sense to start the whole process with the GDA and to base your expectations of financial return on the EPC. The GDA will, of course, also offer you suggested energy saving measures which can be implemented to deliver further cost savings, some of which may be eligible for cashback payments under the government's Green Deal Cashback Scheme.

Remember, you need to find a properly accredited and registered Green Deal assessor. Sadly there are unscrupulous operators out there fleecing people with bogus Green Deal Assessments and charging inflated fees. You can find a registered Green Deal assessor on the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) Green Deal assessor database.

If you need any help or advice as you embark on your own renewables 'information journey', here at Yorkshire Heat Pumps, we will be more than happy to talk to you. You can call us on 0845 050 6539 or call in at our Blubberhouses showroom for an informal 'no obligation' discussion about your project. Alternatively, you can Contact Us via the website and we will call you back at a convenient time.