Data

NIAO Report: DETI Resource Accounts 2015/16
Period Applications Annual Cost (£m) Total 20 Year cost (£m)
Nov 2012 – March 2015 564 13.2 285
April to September 2015 359 6.4 195
October 2015 429 5.5 250
November 2015 452 4.8 235
December 2015 – March 2016 324 0.6 185
Total non-domestic 2128 30.5 1150
Domestic schemes 2721 4.6 30
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 4849 35.1 1180

It’s the months the RHI scheme was open to applications that’s critical to subsequent costs.

The rate of applications shot up in October and November:

Applications per month open
Period Applications per month open
Nov 2012 – March 2015 19
April to September 2015 60
October 2015 429
November 2015 452
December 2015 – March 2016 81
Total non-domestic 52
Domestic schemes 66
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 118

These appear to have been for smaller schemes, about half the annual cost per application:

Annual Cost per Application (£000)
Period Annual Cost per Application (£000)
Nov 2012 – March 2015 23.40
April to September 2015 17.83
October 2015 12.82
November 2015 10.62
December 2015 – March 2016 1.85
Total non-domestic 14.33
Domestic schemes 1.69
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 7.24

The annual costs arising from leaving RHI open in October and November 2015 dwarfs earlier years and later months:

Annual Cost per month open (£000)
Period Annual Cost per month open (£000)
Nov 2012 – March 2015 0.46
April to September 2015 1.07
October 2015 5.50
November 2015 4.80
December 2015 – March 2016 0.15
Total non-domestic 0.74
Domestic schemes 0.11
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 0.86

Costs over 20 years per application are fairly even, in contrast to declining annual costs for applications made to RHI in later months.

Total 20 Year cost per Application (£000)
Period Total 20 Year cost per Application (£000)
Nov 2012 – March 2015 505.32
April to September 2015 543.18
October 2015 582.75
November 2015 519.91
December 2015 – March 2016 570.99
Total non-domestic 540.41
Domestic schemes 11.03
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 243.35

The costs over 20 years for leaving RHI open and uncapped in October and Novemeber 2015 are almost a quater of a billion pounds per month.

Total 20 Year cost per month open (£000)
Period Total 20 Year cost per month open (£000)
Nov 2012 – March 2015 9.83
April to September 2015 32.50
October 2015 250.00
November 2015 235.00
December 2015 – March 2016 46.25
Total non-domestic 28.05
Domestic schemes 0.73
Total commitment to 31 March 2016 28.78