A report by the Renewable Energy Forum has described the proposed Renewable Heat Incentive as "irresponsible".

The 'Renewable Heat Incentive: Risks & Remedies' report uses the Department of Energy & Climate Change's (DECC) own figures to assess the cost-effectiveness of the RHI, and its impact on consumers.

The report claims that the RHI policy is 'an expensive leap into the dark' relying on a major deployment of renewable heat technologies that, it claims, are new to the UK and untested in the UK context.

"This is a serious admission," says the report, "and suggests that the authors were concerned that RHI would not in practice be beneficial to the fuel poor."