FITs Explained
'Feed-In Tariffs' (or FiTs) are the payments made by the UK Government to anyone who has certain types of renewable energy systems installed under the ‘MicroGeneration Certification Scheme’ (MCS) - mainly to encourage take-up of renewable energies rather than continued use of fossil fuels.
The Government has pledged to make a payment for every kWh (kilowatt per hour) of energy produced by a qualifying renewable or solar energy installation and regularly publishes details and amounts of these Tariffs. Feed-In Tariff payments are guaranteed for a specific length of time depending on the renewable energy you use to generate your power or heat.
You will qualify for these Feed-In Tariff payments as long as your installation is carried out by an MCS Accredited Installation company - like The Save Energy Group - and the type of Renewable Energy System is supported within the scheme.
Solar PV Feed-In Tariff:
Feed-In Tariff payments are available for Solar PV installations, amongst other renewable energies. The payment you receive varies according to the size of your Solar PV system, is guaranteed by the Government for 25 years and rises annually in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI).
Currently, for example, if you own a qualiifying Solar PV (or Photovoltaic) system, with less than a 4 Kilowatt per hour output, you will receive 21 pence for every kWh of energy your system produces – even if YOU use it yourself!
If you don’t use all of it yourself - and sell it on to the National Grid (a chosen electricity company) instead - you will receive an extra payment of 3.1p per kWh as an 'Export Tariff'.
Solar PV Feed-In Tariff (information valid as of 12th December 2011:
| Solar PV Installations | System Output | Tariff Level for new Installations - Pence/KWh | Tariff Lifetime | |
| To March 2012 |
From April 2012 |
|||
| Existing Residential Homes | ≥4 kW |
43.3 p/kWh | 21.0 p/kWh | 25 Years |
| Larger Domestic Systems | >4-10 kW | 36.1 p/kWh | 16.8 p/kWh | 25 Years |
| Larger Commercial Systems | >10-50 kW | 32.9 p/kWh | 15.2 p/kWh | 25 Years |
* Please Note: These figures have just been announced by the government- October 2011. They could yet change. We will keep the site updated.
