Feed In Tariffs (FITs)

What is the feed-in tariff?

Feed-in tariffs are payments made to homeowners and businesses for the renewable electricity they generate for 25 years from the date of the instllation of the system that's tax free and inflation proof.

Please be aware that the Feed in Tariff bands have been updated with Retail Index adjustments.

Table of Feed-In Tariff levels effective 1st April 2011 to 31st March 2012
Changes will RPI annually until 2035

Size of PV System	Feed in Tariff p/kWh
4kW (new build)	37.8p
4kW (retrofit)	43.3p
4-10kW	37.8p
10- 50kW	32.9p

These feed-in tariff rates are paid for each unit of electricity generated, even if you use it in your own house/building. In addition to this if you have any excess electricity it can be exported back to the national grid and you will get an extra 3.1p/kWh.

The government are reviewing the tariff levels for all PV installations above 50kW. The government propose to set new tariff bands for this from 1st August 2011.

System Type	System Size	Generation Tariff p/kWh
Retrofit & new build	50kW - 150kW	19p
Retrofit & new build	150kW - 250kW	15p
Retrofit & new build	250kW - 5MW	8.5p
Standalone	Up to 5MW	8.5p

Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI)

Domestic Residential Properties
The RHI will start in full in October 2012. At this time, people who have renewable heat installations, such as Ground and air source heat pumps, and solar thermal panels for their hot water, will be eligible for a payment for every kWh that is generated in this way. The payments per kWh will be consulted on later this year.

In the interim, Government has offered a one-off payment, called an RHI 'premium' payment of £300.00 for all installations from July of this year.

When RHI goes live in October 2012, all of the installations that qualify for the premium payment will AUTOMATICALLY qualify for full RHI, and installations going back to July 2009 may also qualify for inclusion.

The tariff levels that will be available at the introduction of the scheme are set out in the table below;

Tariff name	Eligible technology	Eligible sizes (Kilo Watt thermal hours kWth)	Tariff rate (p/kWh)	Tariff duration (Years)	Support calculation
Solar Thermal	Solar Thermal	Less than 200 kWth	8.5p	20	Metering
Small ground source	Ground-source heat pumps; Water-source heat pumps; deep geothermal	Less than 100 kWth	4.3p	20	Metering
Large ground source		100 kWth and above	3p

Other technologies

A number of technologies do not have dedicated tariffs. Some of these are covered by other tariffs and others may become eligible at a later stage as follows; Technologies without dedicated tariffs at the start of the RHI
Air source heat pumps	Not eligible at the start of the RHI
Deep geothermal	Eligible under the ground source heat pump tariffs
Solar thermal	Eligible below 200kWth,
Water source heat pumps	Eligible under the ground source heat pump tar

How do I claim the feed-in tariff?

In order to claim the tariffs you need to sign a “home generation” contract with an energy supply company. You should do this as soon as the system is installed. Ring up your electricity company and ask for their “home generation” sign up form. With some electricity companies - for example British Gas, you need to call them as soon as you know you are installing PV. Whoever your company is, we recommend you ring them as soon as you have an installation date, and ask them a) whether you need to pre-register and b) what their procedure is for signing up.

All of the large suppliers offer home generation contracts and in most cases your existing electricity supplier should be able to sign you up. If your electricity provider does not offer the feed-in tariff, ring one of the big suppliers instead (e.g. E.on, nPower, SSE). There are also a number of smaller “green” suppliers that are offering FITs payments.

Please note in order for your system to qualify for feed in tariffs, it must be installed by an MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) accredited installer. We are an MCS accredited installer. We will provide you with a certificate after the installation. You need this in order to sign up.

Note that in order to measure the amount of energy exported accurately you need an export meter (as well as a generation meter). Only your electricity company can fit an export meter. If you do not have an export meter then, so long as your system is smaller than 30kWp, your exported amount is estimated to be 50% of your total generation. This is sometimes referred to as 'deeming'. Deeming usually works in the householder's favour. However if you think you are going to export a lot more than 50% of your total generation, it may be worth asking your electricity company to fit an export meter.