Feed-In Tariffs

Feed-in-Tariffs were introduced by the Government on the 1st April 2010.

The introduction of this scheme means that you will now be paid for every unit of electricity that you generate, even if you use it yourself! So, rather than PAYING your energy supplier, the Government will PAY YOU. The current rates can be found on the DECC website and are often adjusted to provide a typical return on investment rate of 6-8%. From past experience, these ROI figures are usually conservative in comparison to your actual rate of return.

There are 3 elements to the Feed-In Tariff...

  • Saving - As stated above, you've saved the cost of buying electricity from the grid.
  • Generation - The Government will pay you for all the units of electricity that your system produces.
  • Export – If your system produces more energy than your house currently requires, the surplus energy will automatically be exported and you will be paid an export payment.

And remember that current energy prices won't be the same in 5 years time – it is widely agreed that they are likely to be double that of today! You may speculate what others will be paying for their electricity in the future but you will be securing your electricity supply and the savings are only going to increase with every year that passes.

All this is guaranteed by the Government for the next 25 years, is index linked and tax FREE.

Too good to be true?

Well it sounds like it but this is a scheme guaranteed by the Government. They have committed us to reducing carbon emissions and solar panels will play a key part in helping us achieve these goals. This incentive scheme encourages homeowners to invest in clean and renewable energy sources and solar PV arguably provides the best way of achieving that.