RHI registered producers and suppliers

[log on tommy]

Interesting thread so thought I would comment. This is not directed at anyone but just my thoughts and ideas.

 

Increased red tape seems to be the bane of every business now and most often seems to be a waste of time but some can prove worthwhile & in the long term I think that's the case with the BSL.

 

Biggest moan I here from log suppliers is the low price they get for logs. Perhaps the first issue is that the customers still just think of them as logs and not fuel. I still hear people saying that a potential customer said his log suppliers are better value as they are nice and heavy! So they like burning wet wood! Would they use water contaminated heating oil? Truth is most would not have a clue what that means and they don't need to as oil has a stringent quality control system. Presently log wood fuel has no stringent quality control system. If you are burning logs on an open fire or small wood burner some would say 'does it really matter'. In reality it should matter as what's the sense of wasting energy & money turning moisture into steam. So we need to educate the end user and that's always going to be a difficult one. After all who of us can afford the time to explain to these people.

 

I believe the BSL offers an effective solution. The government has chosen to pay people ridicules amounts of money to heat with wood rather than oil etc. So if someone that can affordable to, lets say, spend £12k installing a log boiler system. Then receives back £50-60K in RHI payments over twenty years surely it's not unreasonable to expect those people to pay a sensible price for the fuel.

 

By most accounts the BSL is not to bad to get onto now as it's pretty much a tick box exercise. However the whole idea behind it is to create a stringent quality control system so people stop thinking they are burning just logs and start thinking 'wood fuel'.

 

My understanding is that over time the BSL will involve being 'audited' so as to ensure members are supplying 'wood fuel' that meets the necessary standards. This can only mean that getting on the BSL will become a lot tougher.

 

My advice is to get on the BSL now. I cant see any disadvantage to having a bit of paper that means you are able to supply RHI compliant 'wood fuel'. You could even use it to your advantage by making your customers aware that you produce 'wood fuel' to industry standards. Why not get a small leaflet printed that shows your BSL number and what you do to achieve the standards. Supply it with every delivery with re-order details etc. It might just mean that next time your customer gets a call from a potential alternative supplier the ask the for their BSL number and the line goes dead!

 

In time the BSL means UK could well join other European countries in having an efficient,strong and professional 'wood fuel' industry that supplies a quality product that sells at the right price.

 

If suppliers are making the right money the hopefully some will filter down the supply chain to my business!

 

The only potential glitch is that by most accounts at present consumption rates the UK will run out of trees in 10 years time as we are not planting enough. So in any way you can please encourage people to plant more trees. I always say 'fell one tree, then plant three'. And for what it's worth I believe we should stop the focus of re-planting softwood and plant more coppice wood. Similar if not better yields and it's more sustainable as it's a harvested crop rather than clear fell and re-plant.

 

Very interesting and I tend to agree that the BSL is a method ( albeit a clumsy and bureaucratic one) of regulating our industry. an industry standard to which we ( and our customers ) can refer should in practice be a good thing but experience tells me that it will come at the cost of a large amount of red tape.

 

I took the same view as you in getting registered as I thought whats the harm, and I've had a couple of enquiries off the back of the BSL. One of these was asking about the possibility of buying green wood to season himself but the registration process needed to know specifically how the wood was seasoned. Does anyone know where I stand in this respect?

[combined tree services]

Personally I think it is an attempt to regulate an industry to the point of collapse for the smaller guys , down here in the southwest there is a wealth of small woodlands that will fall out of the sustainable guidelines , both woodland owners and small scale contractors will have to accept a minuscule value for the timber which in turn brings the whole idea of regulating the industry into question .

[Andrew Chester]

Sorry to say, but it means that there is now a definitive paper trail (source to sale) and an end to cash/no receipt transactions. It happened about 10 years ago in the building industry and the need to certify everything... Legislation by the back door, very clever.

[briquette_seller]

Sorry to say, but it means that there is now a definitive paper trail (source to sale) and an end to cash/no receipt transactions. It happened about 10 years ago in the building industry and the need to certify everything... Legislation by the back door, very clever.

 

I disagree.

The beer drinker merchants of the country won't register with the BSL, and in turn won't be able to supply RHI claiming customers, but I don't see this having any effect on their business, as 99.9% for their customers will be non RHI claimants.

[Logsnstuff]

so they need to get everyone onto RHI