After announcing that the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) would be closing in July 2018, the 31st March 2019 saw the government scheme come to an end, with no replacement scheme set to take its place.
What was the Feed-in Tariff?
The FiT was a government scheme that entitled eligible homeowners and businesses to receive payments for generating their own renewable energy through the generation and export tariffs.
The generation tariff was a payment made for every kWh (kilowatt-hour) of electricity generated, while the export tariff were payments made for the energy sent to the National Grid.
Why has the Feed-in Tariff Ended?
When the FiT began, the government estimated that around 750,000 eligible installations would take place by 2020. However, this estimate proved too small and the scheme proved much more effective, with 730,00 installations taking place by 2015, putting strain on the scheme. In addition to this, the scheme suffered funding cuts of around 65%.
Will the Feed-in Tariff be Replaced?
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has announced a possible replacement for the FiT called the Smart Export Guarantee (SMEG) This guarantee would entitle small-scale energy generators, such as homeowners and businesses, to payments for the energy generated by their solar panels being exported to the electricity grid.
Should this go ahead, it will see large energy suppliers, with 250,000+ customers, pay those generating energy with solar panels for every kWh (kilowatt-hour) being exported to the National Grid. Each individual energy supplier would have full control over the amount they’d like to pay rather than there being one set price for all energy suppliers.
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