Earlier in the day, Economy Minister Simon Hamilton detailed the proposals to the Committee for the Economy and then later brought the plans to the Assembly chamber for a vote.

However, a business case for the proposals has yet to be approved by the Department of Finance and MLAs were sceptical that the proposals were not subject to appropriate examination if the vote was taken as planned.

The debate on planned cuts to RHI tariffs was then adjourned until 23 January following the announcement that the Assembly will be extended with the last sitting on 25 January.

An election is to be held on 2 March following Sinn Féin’s decision to decline to nominate a replacement for Martin McGuinness as Deputy First Minister. He resigned from his role last week over the First Minister Arlene Foster’s refusal to step aside during an investigation into RHI.

Extension welcomed

“I welcome the opportunity for the Economy Committee to get more detailed scrutiny of the proposals,” Ulster Unionist MLA Steve Aiken said in the Assembly on Monday evening.

Aiken chaired the meeting of the Committee for the Economy earlier in the day after Sinn Féin MLAs, including committee chair Conor Murphy, did not attend the meeting.

He said that the additional time would allow for the business case to be analysed and for the committee to hear from Minister Hamilton again, as well as from renewable heat stakeholders.

Cost-cutting plan

The cost-cutting plan proposes for all RHI claimants to move to the tiered and capped tariff rates that were introduced after November 2015.

This will apply for one year from the beginning of the 2017/18 financial year. A consultation will then be launched for a long-term solution to the overspend from the RHI scheme.

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Full coverage: RHI