Incentives
Government Incentives come and go but can be the backbone to a decision to start your renewable journey. Over the past decade we have seen the technology improve whilst the cost of equipment has gone down but it is still a considerable investment to make so having government backed incentives are a valuable part of what we do here at Baystar: we can make recommendations and assist in having your grants awarded to you.
Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS)
This was introduced in April 2022 following the end of its predecessor, RHI. The Scheme offers to cover part of the cost of replacing fossil fuel heating system with a heat pump or biomass boiler.
Fossil fuel heating systems include oil, gas or electric.
You can get one grant per property. Grants are available for:
- £7,500 towards an air source heat pump
- £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump (including water source heat pumps and those on shared ground loops)
- £7,500 towards a biomass boiler
You cannot get a grant for a hybrid heat pump system (for example a combination of gas boiler and air source heat pump).
The eligibility conditions to meet can be found on the government website here. Baystar will work with you to make sure you understand and meet the necessary criteria as well as apply for the grant itself at the end of the installation.
0% VAT on Energy Saving Materials
This measure introduces a time-limited zero-rate of VAT for the installation of certain types of energy saving materials (ESMs) and reverses Court of Justice of the European Union derived legislative changes introduced in 2019, which narrowed the scope of the previous relief, for installations in residential accommodation in Great Britain. The zero-rate will be available for a period of 5 years and will then revert to the 5% reduced rate of VAT. The measure permanently removes the social policy conditions and the 60% test which businesses were required to consider determining the VAT liability of ESM installations prior to these changes.
In layman’s terms, anything that can be considered part of a renewable installation can be zero rated for the end client meaning that coupling heating upgrades such as new heaters or underfloor heating will be 20% cheaper to the end client than trying to phase the work out at different times. This could also be related to other items such as roof hatches to access the solar array that Baystar has lovingly installed in your home. The law on this is grey but quite strict so Baystar are happy to help you work out which parts of your build can be associated with the renewable installation and therefore zero rated.
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)
The SEG launched on 1 January 2020 and is a government-backed initiative. The SEG requires some electricity suppliers, known as SEG Licensees, to pay small-scale generators, known as SEG Generators, for low-carbon electricity which they export back to the National Grid, providing certain criteria are met.
This is an arrangement directly between the generator and electricity suppliers so before making a decision, shop around and see who is offering the most competitive export rates.
Green Deal
The Green Deal helps homeowners make energy-saving improvements to their home and find the best way to pay for them. However, this is not a grant, it is a loan and therefore it must be paid back.
The improvements that could save you the most energy depend on your home, but typical examples include:
- insulation, such as solid wall, cavity wall or loft insulation
- draught-proofing
- double glazing
- renewable energy generation, such as solar panels or heat pumps
- heating