The Feed in Tariffs will drop on July 1st 2013 and a further drop is expected on October 1st. Call us on 0845 6431280 for a free survey today and allow enough time for EPC and structural surveys to be carried out!

In order to be eligible for the tariffs above, the property the electricity is fed into must be rated as energy of Band D or above in the energy performance certification (EPC).  You must make sure you have EPC certification which Better Planet can help you with. If you don’t achive Band D, you will still be eligible for FIT’s, but at a lower level.

In order to incentivise the uptake of solar PV panels, the government has introduced so called Feed in Tariffs (FITs). Rather than an upfront grant, the tariffs are paid out over the life of the panels in relation to how much electricity (in kWh) the panels generate. The Feed in Tariffs were introduced in April 2010 and are paid out over the life of the panels which is deemed to be 20 years. Clients entering into the system will keep the feed in tariffs for 20 years with a correction for inflation.

Furthermore, the panels as well as the installing company has to be certified under the MCS (Microgeneration Certification Scheme) for systems under 50kWp. As part of the installation, an electricity meter is installed metering all electricity produced by the system. There are three separate streams of revenues/saving:

1. Feed in Tariff: You are paid for each kWh of electricity the system generates, irrespective of whether it is used on site or exported back to the grid.
2. Bonus for exporting to the grid: You are getting an extra 4.5p for each kWh that is exported to the grid.
3. Saving: You will save on your electricity bill as it will be reduced in relation to the electricity generated by the panels that is used on site

A stand-alone system is defined as “An autonomous system not attached to a building and not wired to provide electricity to an occupied building“.

To put this in context, most consumers can buy electricity at a price of around 15p per kWh. You are in other words paid significantly more for the electricity your panels are producing than the current market price for electricity.

Thanks to the tariffs, the payback time for the system is considerably shorter than the life of the panels, typically less than 10 years. In other words: after less than 10 years the investment cost is covered and you can enjoy around 15 years of free electricity and Feed in Tariffs!

Because the tariffs are different for different sizes of systems, it makes financial sense to go for a system just under the respective “break point”: 4kWp, 10kWp, 50kWp etc. For this reason most domestic clients aim at installing a system just under 4 kWp.

The FITs are paid for by your electricity provider and governed by Ofgem.