Stormont launches plan to close RHI scheme - with £68m compensation bill

Q Radio News/PA

The Stormont Executive has announced options for the future of a botched green energy scheme.

The Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive Scheme was plunged into scandal when it emerged costs were spiralling amid design flaws.

It has been suspended to new applicants since February 2016.

Economy Minister Diane Dodds said the Executive’s preferred option is to close the scheme and pay compensation to participants, which would cost an estimated £68.4 million.

“I have always been clear that any decision on the future of the RHI scheme must be fair to both the taxpayer and to the scheme’s legitimate participants who invested in good faith,” she said.

“The preferred option seeks to meet these objectives. In due course, new support for renewable heat would be brought forward.”

The scheme remains operational for accredited installations, with tariffs supporting generation of renewable heat for a period of 20 years and final payments expected in 2036.

Mrs Dodds said the final decision on the scheme rests with the Executive as a whole.

The consultation closes at 5pm on April 9.

The RHI scheme sparked a political row which led to the resignation of former deputy first minister Martin McGuinness in January 2017 and the paralysis of Stormont for three years.

A public inquiry found there had been no illegality but the scheme had been poorly designed, run and monitored: