UK Government to face questions and legal action of its handling of the FIT

Ove the last few days reports have been appearing that the UK government are to face a number of challenges to its decision to halve the FIT for PV installations which come online after 12th Dec 2011.

There are two select committees Environmental Audit Committee and Energy and Climate Change Committee which have called for evidence after launching an inquiry into the solar PV Feed-in Tariff and the management of the ongoing consultation to cut the cash subsidy in December. This is reported in a number of websites including http://www.greenwisebusiness.co.uk/news/mps-call-for-evidence-of-ministers-handling-of-feedin-tariff-cuts-2773.aspx

There are also  two legal challenges to the decision to cut the tariff. One, brought by 'Friends of the Earth', is based on the fact that the governement is acting illegally in saying it will halve the tariff before its own consulation on the system is supposed to be completed on the 23rd December 2011. This story is covered by a large number of websites and is best searched for in your favourite search engine..

Seems that yet again some MP's have been caught by not thinking everything through before acting unilaterally.

New reduced FIT rates to arrive 5 months earlier than expected !

It is now in a couple of websites that I have seen that the Feed In Tariff rates will be reduced a lot sooner than originally anticipated.

Most people expected the change to occur in April for the new financial year. However, now the gov't is saying that the pot of money allocated for this scheme is running out quicker than planned.

The scheme was more popular than predicted with domestic installations exploding on the scene as people expected to cash in.

This means that you need to get any new installation signed off by the generating company before the 12th December 2011 to achieve the current rate of 43p/unit generated.

Any installation commissioned after that date (even if you have already paid a deposit with an installer) will drop to just 21p/unit generated.

Of course you will SAVE the same amount of money as you would under the old tariff, but the INCOME will now be less than half of what it was before.

The BBC News website has more on this at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15507750

There may still be other ways in which you can receive payments for using energy efficient or generating systems. Check out the Energy Saving Trusts website which has a database to check out your postcode - http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/

FIT rates to be slashed for new systems after April 2012 ?

I have received an email today from 'TheMoneySavingExpert' website which carries a headline that the guaranteed FIT rates for new systems might be slashed by 50% after April 2012.

If you were considering installing a system soon then I'd get your skates on as you only get the rate after the system has been registered by the generating company.

You'd obviously save money due to not having to pay so much of the large energy prices which are also predicted, but you'd not be able to MAKE money.

The link to the MSE website about this can be found at http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-solar-panels

There was a warning that this might happen from the same MSE website back in Oct 2010 at the following URL - http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/utilities/2010/10/spending-review-solar-feed-in-tariffs-safe-for-now

If more concrete evidence comes in it might be too late as the gov't is hardly likely to advertise sooner rather than later I would think.

New payment by EON for 2nd quarter 2011

This morning I have received another set of FIT from EON for generation between 25th Jan 2011 to 25th April 2011.

The paperwork contained two letters, one for the old tariff rate of 42.8p/kWh and the other for the new rate of 44.85p/kWh.

The first payment is for 488 kWh between 25th Jan 2011 to 30th Mar 2011 = (488 x 41.3) + (0.5 x 488 x 3) = £208.86

The second payment is for 188 kWh between 1st April 2011 to 25th April 2011 = (188 x 43.3) + (0.5 x 188 x 3) = £84.31

This makes a total of £293.17. 

New FIT rates

FIT rates have apparently gone up by 5%. Not had any official statement from EON yet but they should be applicable (for me) from at least 25th April 2011.

The rates change from
generation: 41.3p/kWh to 43.3p/kWh
export: 3p/kWh to 3.1p/kWh

With the agreed assumption of 50% export this gives me a new rate of 44.85p/kWh

Payback issues with suppliers...

I have had no problems with my payments from my supplier EON.

I recently submitted my most recent reading to them. They sent me a mail back the same day saying that my payment might be a little delayed, due to all the bank holidays we're currently having, for one reason or another. As I wasn't expecting anything for some time I was very pleased with this.

A friend of mine who happened to get his installation done just before me, IS having trouble getting his supplier to sort out his paperwork. This means he hasn't received a penny, doesn't even know if they've registered his installation and is now getting the ombudsman involved.

I will try to keep up to date with this on my blog. I wonder if there is a forum for this?? I will investigate.

In fact there seem to be quite a few. I will look at http://www.navitron.org.uk/forum/ which claims to be the 'UK's most popular Renewable Energy Forum'.

New meter reading to the electricity company - Pay back in 12.3years

This morning I have submitted the latest reading to EON of 1057.3 kWh.

Since the installation went live on the 19th Oct 2010 this equates to 5.62kWh/day for 188days. The previous readings so far have been

11th Mar 2011 (589.7kWh) gave an average of 4.12kWh/day.
29th Jan 2011 (381.72kWh) gave an average of 3.74kWh/day.
2nd Dec 2010 (198kWh) gave an average of 4.71kWh/day.

If 5.62kWh is applied for the whole year this would equate to 2051.3kWh.

At the previous rate of 42.8p/kWh this gives me £877.95 of money paid to me.

As I initially paid approx £10800 for the system completely installed I will pay off the system in 12.3years at the current rate of return.

The return on investment is approx 8.13% per annum.

This does not take into account any money saved by using energy generated during the day, or any increase in the rates paid to me.

Update on the numbers so far.

Today's reading on the generation meter is 589.7kWh.

It is 143 days since installation on 19th October 2010.

The average so far is therefore 4.12kWh/day. This average has dropped a little from the review I did on the 2nd Dec 2010 which was at 4.71kWh/day.

At the current FIT rate of 42.8p/kWh this equates to £1.76/day which over the year is £644.22/year.

This does not take into account the amount of energy I use while I'm generating. I have taken to using my washing machine etc. during the day so that my usage is further reduced.

Further reviews will be done until I get a whole year in the bag.

UK announces Renewable Heat Incentive scheme today

As well as getting paid for generating electricity using solar panels and wind turbines the UK government is now going to include other systems such as solar water heating in its effort to reduce the amount of electricity required from fossil fuelled power stations.

The announcement was made today at the following link - http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/PN2011_023/PN2011_023.aspx

"The tariffs will be paid for 20 years to eligible technologies that have installed since 15th July 2009 with payments being made for each kWh of renewable heat which is produced."

"Once in the scheme the level of support an installation will receive is fixed and adjusted annually with inflation. However, as with feed in tariffs, we expect the levels of support available for new entrants to the RHI scheme will decrease over time as the costs of the equipment and installation reduce through economies of scale."

Review of the UK's FIT system earlier than originally expected

According to the website http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn11_010/pn11_010.aspx there will be a review of the FIT's by the end of 2011.

This is due to the fact that large companies are possibly soaking up all the money that was intended for the smaller scale producers such as myself.

There is a note near the bottom which might affect those people thinking about getting in on the act. If you're waiting for improvements to the solar panels etc and hoping to get in before the tariff's go down it might be worth taking this into account.

"The Government will not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs implemented as a result of the review will only affect new entrants into the FITs scheme. Installations which are already accredited for FITs at the time will not be affected."

First FIT payment from e.on

I have got my first payment from the electricity company.

I supplied a reading to them on the 25th January 2011 and I received a statement dated the 31st January 2011.

The reading was 381 kWh from the 20th October 2010.

The rate is 41.3p/kWh generated + 3p/50% kWh generated. The average rate is therefore 42.8p/kWh.

The total they're sending to me works out as £163.07p. This will be paid into the nominated bank account in 5 - 10 working days.

Sunny Beam installed

I have received the Sunny Beam equipment for my PV inverter. It came in two bits.

The first piece is a bluetooth transmitter which fits into the inverter. The second piece is the Sunny Beam display unit.

Although the units work perfectly well together they haven't yet got the ability to post my data to a website.

After talking to my fitter I will be able to return the display unit and see how much a more expensive unit called a Sunny Web Box which is supposed to be able to do what I want.

FIT plan accepted by E.ON

E.ON have now received the FIT paperwork for my PV system.

This means that they will now be paying me for generating power at The Swamp. This also means that I can pay the fitter the final 5% of the installation fee.

Solar generation numbers so far ......

Well I have finally returned to The Swamp to a very cold snap.

The generation meter showed 198kWh since the installation was completed. This equates to 42 days (appropriate). So far this means we have an average daily production of 4.71 kWh.

The current rate is 41.3p per unit generated, whether I use it or not. Eon have agreed that they will pay me an extra 3p/unit for 50% of what I generate as part of the FIT.

The equation is 41.3p x units generated + 3p x 50% units generated. 41.3 x 1 x units + 3 x 0.5 x units = 42.8p x units

In money terms, given 41.3p/kWh, and that 50% will get an extra 3p per unit, I have generated approximately £84.74 since connection.

If I use this average generation over a period of 365 days this equates to an annual influx of £735.80. This DOES NOT take into account the amount I save by not buying in this energy.

The weather is obviously not the best, as the days are short and the sun is low in the sky.

I have ordered a meter which should hopefully let me post my daily generation levels on the web LIVE!

FIT paperwork

Oops. Very nearly missed out on getting the Feed In Tariff from my energy supplier E.ON.

I had assumed that the solar panel installation company would have taken care of this but apparently they don't. This is due to issues of privacy etc. They don't have my supply detail to hand and E.ON shouldn't just hand them out to anyone who happens to ask.

All I had to do was go onto the E.ON website at the following URLhttp://www.eonenergy.com/At-Home/Products/Feed-in+Tariffs/How-to-apply-for-fit-payments.htm?WT.mc_id=How_to_Apply&WT.svl=8 and then download the form under 'download the application form (PDF)'.

Print that off, fill in the blanks and then send it off with a copy of the MCS certificate to the address supplied.

As there were a few questions I had about the form I simply rang the number 0845 301 4884. The person I spoke to was very helpful.

It should now be all sorted and again goes to prove you shouldn't assume stuff where money is concerned.

Full on !

I have just taken a reading from the inverter in the attic when the sun is in a clear sky and almost (but not quite) perpendicular to the solar panels.

This being Oct though, the sun is not very high in the sky.

The readings were

Time (GMT)	SolRad (W/m2)	E-total (kWh)	h-total (hours)	E-today (kWh)	PAC (watts)	VPV (VoltsDC)	Mode
1325z	439 W/m2	16.6 kWh	18 hours	6.62 kWh	1963 Watts	310 Volts	MPP

The system was commissioned in the afternoon of Tuesday 19th October 2010.

Rather than having to go up the ladder to the attic every time I want a reading I'll now have to investigate the possibilities for getting it posted to the WWW.

Scaffolding down today

The scaffolders came back this morning and dismantled the scaffolding. Didn't take too long at all. About 1 hour. Now have to reconfigure the garden deck to what it was before they came.

Initial reading 19th October 2010

At the end of today the meter down in the garage is reading 2.5. I think this reading is contaminated by a small amount from the factory. Also I'm not entirely sure of the units. I think it's kWh but can't confirm that until I get the manual and certificates on Thursday.

I'll assume this as the zero point for the future.

I was going to read the values from the inverter in the attic but as it's dark it has no power to work.

The Swamp Electricity Generating Board

Well that about does it. I am now generating electricity from my panels installed on the back of the house.

Just some clearing up to do and they're off. I also authorised another 25% payment today. I am holding onto the final 5% until the electricity people are happy with the installation and willing to pay me for juice.

I am very happy with the installation. Andy and his chaps from New Generation Energy http://www.newgenerationenergy.co.uk/ have done a good job so far.

Obviously I will need to monitor the situation from now on. I will attempt to get generation values on to my website and keep things updated in this blog as and when I remember.