Legislation to reduce tariff rates paid under the non-domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) came into effect on 1 April having received state aid approval from the European Commission last week.

The changes will mean that approximately 1,800 claimants will move to the tiered and capped tariff rates that were originally introduced for biomass boilers that became accredited after November 2015 and up to the scheme’s closure in February 2016.

The change in tariff rates will be for the 2017/18 financial year with former Economy Minister Simon Hamilton stating in January that a consultation is to be launched for a longer-term solution to address the £490m overspend from the RHI scheme.

Meanwhile, the Department for Economy has published a revised list of limited companies that are RHI claimants following errors in the original list published on 16 March.

The group representing non-domestic RHI claimants said that errors include incorrect payment amounts, incorrect company names and inclusion of names of individuals who should not have been identified.

“Even before publication, individuals in the department knew that the information was wrong and that to publish it was unsafe,” the Renewable Heat Association of NI said in a statement on Monday.

The Department for the Economy has said that a separate list of individuals in receipt of RHI payments is currently being compiled.

“This will be published as soon as possible,” the department said.

This follows a court case last month in which the judge ruled that the names of individuals could not be made public unless objections from claimants were identified and considered by the department.