‘Cash for ash’ report: Some boilers burned for 21 hours a day

Renewable Heat Incentive led to collapse of power-sharing in Northern Ireland

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for businesses in Northern Ireland - which collapsed political power-sharing in a spending row - paid subsidies worth at least £50,000 (€56,800) for some of the machines. File photograph: Getty Images

Ten boilers ran virtually round-the-clock during a massively overspent public scheme to encourage green energy in Northern Ireland, a watchdog has said.

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) for businesses - which collapsed political power-sharing in a spending row - paid subsidies worth at least £50,000 (€56,800) for the machines.

Each burned wood for more than 21 hours a day last year, figures in an Audit Office report revealed.

Wood pellets: The RHI was supposed to offer a proportion of the cost businesses had to pay to run eco-friendly boilers, but the subsidy tariffs were set too high, and without a cap, so the state ended up paying out significantly more than the price of fuel. File photograph: Getty Images
The comptroller and auditor general’s report found that, of 1,687 boilers enrolled in the RHI scheme prior to November 2015, 39 per cent were using them for more than half the available hours in a year. File photograph: Getty Images

The devices were installed before November 2015 when the so-called “cash for ash” scheme was modified to significantly reduce the taxpayer bill.

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‘Significant concerns’

Comptroller and auditor general Kieran Donnelly said: “I continue to have significant concerns about the operation of this scheme and the serious systemic weaknesses in controls that have facilitated the possibility of funding that is at best not in line with the spirit of the scheme - and at worst is fraudulent.”

Mr Donnelly’s report into Stormont’s Economy Department said:

* Of 1,687 boilers enrolled in the scheme prior to November 2015, 39 per cent are using them for more than half the available hours in a year “more than 12 hours a day and 7 days a week all year round”, with an RHI subsidy per boiler in 2016/17 of at least £28,000.

* Ten are being used for 90 per cent or more of available hours, creating a subsidy per boiler of at least £50,000 in 2016/17.

* There is a considerably different pattern of usage in the revised scheme after November 2015. Of the 251 installed and operating, 96 per cent were being used for 30 per cent or less of the hours in a year and only one used for more than 50 per cent.

* The Economy Department estimates the scheme will cost £24 million in 2017/18, compared to £52 million it would have cost had action not been taken to control costs.

* The cost to the Northern Ireland budget in 2017/18 is projected to fall to £2 million, compared to about £30 million had the old rates continued to stand.

* Out of 2,128 boilers in the scheme, 1,419 were part of multiple installations at 437 single sites.

Multiple boilers

The auditor said: “I am concerned at the extent of the use of multiple boilers which allowed applicants to claim a considerably higher level of subsidy payments than would have been payable for installations with a single boiler of a more appropriate size greater than 100kW (or 200kW after November 2015).”

The state-funded RHI was supposed to offer a proportion of the cost businesses had to pay to run eco-friendly boilers, but the subsidy tariffs were set too high, and without a cap, so it ended up paying out significantly more than the price of fuel.

This enabled some applicants to “burn to earn” - getting free heat and making a profit as they did so.

An independent inquiry has been launched in a bid to determine who was responsible for the flawed scheme.

- PA