Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, with reference to Ofgem's Boiler Upgrade Scheme Annual Report 2023–24, what assessment they have made of the discrepancy between (1) Ofgem's reported overall fraud and error rate of 1.18 per cent of total payments under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, and (2) the 6.4 per cent non-compliance rate identified through statistical audits; what reasons they have identified for this discrepancy; and what the estimated overall non-compliance rate is for the scheme.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made of the average administrative cost incurred by Ofgem per voucher issued under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme for each financial year since its inception.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Government has not published the average administrative cost incurred by Ofgem per voucher issued under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
The scheme, now part of the Government’s Major Project Portfolio, will be included in the 24-25 National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) Annual Report publication, which will disclose whole life scheme costs.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what was the total value of Boiler Upgrade Scheme funding paid out for installations subsequently found to be non-compliant with eligibility rules each year since the scheme’s inception; and how much of this funding has been successfully recovered by Ofgem.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many compliance breaches were identified among the ten largest installers participating in the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, measured by voucher volume, since the scheme was launched.
Answered by Lord Wilson of Sedgefield - Lord in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme is administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many installations accredited under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive reported zero metered heat generation in each of the past two scheme years; and what was the total value of public subsidy paid to these installations in each year.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are (1) the original target, and (2) current forecast, for the uptake of metering and monitoring service packages under the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme; how many packages have been allocated in each year since introduction; and what evaluation has been undertaken of their effectiveness in identifying underperformance or non-compliance.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The Metering and Monitoring Service Package (MMSP) was designed to support participants and installers on the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive to understand how heating systems are working in specific households and not to serve as a compliance tool. This was an optional measure for participants and was demand driven with 11,255 packages available in total. Ofgem's published data indicates that 3,530 applications were approved as of September 2023, with information for the preceding years attached.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many site audits were conducted under the (1) Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, and (2) Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive, schemes in each year since 2014; and of these, how many took place in each nation and region of Great Britain, disaggregated for England, Scotland and Wales, and by Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS1 or NUTS2) regions or the most detailed regional classification used by Ofgem for audit reporting.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether Ofgem’s compliance audits for the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and the Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive are selected through a randomised, stratified, risk-weighted or quota-based sampling methodology; and what statistical confidence level is used when extrapolating fraud and error rates to the wider scheme.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes each benefit from two audit programmes annually. They include both randomised and risk weighted methodologies with the ability to consider internal or external referrals. A 95% confidence level is currently applied when extrapolating fraud and error rates for the non-domestic scheme and 90% is applied for the domestic scheme.
Asked by: Lord Nash (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive and (2) Non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive scheme participants have been subject to repeat compliance investigations or site audits since 2014; and what is the total cumulative value of overpayments identified for these cases.
Answered by Baroness Curran
The Domestic and Non-Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive schemes are administered by Ofgem on behalf of the government. Given the nature of the data requested, Ofgem will write to the noble Lord and a copy of the letter will be placed in the Libraries of the House.