Pledge to reimburse excess renewable energy from grid
HOUSEHOLDS AND businesses which install new solar panels will be paid for the excess electricity which they then supply to the grid, under fresh Government plans.
Proposals for a new “smart export guarantee” have been unveiled amid concern about the future of small-scale solar power in the UK as the current subsidy regime finishes at the end of March.
Under the scheme, people were paid a “feed-in tariff” – a subsidy for the amount of power they generated from small-scale renewables such as solar – and an export tariff for power fed back to the grid.
The tariff assumed households exported 50 per cent of what they generated and were paid for it, even if they exported less or the grid did not need it.
But the closure of the scheme raised the possibility of households providing electricity to energy companies for free.
The newly-unveiled smart export guarantee would instead see suppliers with more than 250,000 customers required to pay households and businesses which install small-scale renewables in the future for the electricity they actually export to the grid.
Energy and Clean Growth Minister Claire Perry said the scheme “could help us to build a bridge to the smart energy system of the future, with consumers firmly at its heart”.
The Government said the plans were aimed at protecting consumers from having to pay “unfair costs” of the current scheme, have been put out to consultation.
Meanwhile, major energy providers are bunching their charges just below the new price cap, analysis suggests.
Ofgem set a price cap of £1,137 per year for a typical dual fuel customer paying by direct debit, which came into force on January 1. The cap was introduced to give price protection for 11m customers on poor value default tariffs, Ofgem said.
Research by renewable energy provider Bulb suggests the Big Six providers – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, Npower, Scottish Power and SSE – have bunched their standard variable tariffs just £4 below the price cap. The research found only a £2 difference between the cheapest and most expensive Big Six standard variable tariffs.
It could help us to build a bridge to the smart energy system. Energy and Clean Growth Minister, Claire Perry.