Energy Crisis & Solar FIT rip-off

Dweareit

So we are now in an energy crisis and the Feed in Tariffs have been reduced and everyone is being encouraged to get Smart metres? Energy (Gas & Electricity) prices have been increased by 54%, not to mention the 25p increase in Petrol and the increase in everything else due to these increases.

Remember even if you got in early you only get paid 50% of what you produce and still have to pay for everything you use, even if you give back to the grid. Eg. With simple numbers… If you produce 100kW and use 100kW you should be paid the 14p per kW for 50kW you produced and your electricity bill should be zero. This is not how it works though… you pay 29p per kW you use and only get back 50% of what you produce. So you pay £29.00 and get back £7.00. How is this fair?

How much do the energy companies actually get back from all the homes with Solar panels? Some sites say it is only 4-6% of the energy in the country? 

I am keen to say let’s test this out and everyone who has Solar panels turns them off for a day or even for a few hours on a day.

The_Green_Hornet

Early adopters of the Solar PV Feed in Tariff scheme get 60p for every kWh of electricity they generate so I doubt they will be switching their panels off any time soon.

QrizB

Welcome to the forum.

You appear to be misinformed.

Dweareit said:

So we are now in an energy crisis and the Feed in Tariffs have been reduced ...

The feed in tariffs increased by 7.5%, in lne with RPI, in April this year. See details here:
https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/feed-tariff-fit-tariff-table-1-april-2022

Remember even if you got in early you only get paid 50% of what you produce and still have to pay for everything you use, even if you give back to the grid. Eg. With simple numbers… If you produce 100kW and use 100kW you should be paid the 14p per kW for 50kW you produced and your electricity bill should be zero. This is not how it works though… you pay 29p per kW you use and only get back 50% of what you produce. So you pay £29.00 and get back £7.00. How is this fair?

Thsat is not how the FIT works. You get paid a flat rate for every kWh you generate, plus you get paid a further amount for each kWh you export. If you lack an export meter you are deemed to have exported half of it; if you get an export meter (and smart meters include one) you can instead elect to be paid for the metered amount you export. If you are exporting more than 50%, metered export is a better option.

Rates of payment are made in accordance with the FIT that was offered when you installed the panels, increased annually by RPI.

How much do the energy companies actually get back from all the homes with Solar panels? Some sites say it is only 4-6% of the energy in the country?

The energy companies don't get anything. The FIT payments are funded by Ofgem who in turn recover them from everyone's electricity bills.

I am keen to say let’s test this out and everyone who has Solar panels turns them off for a day or even for a few hours on a day.

Good luck with that.

Yesterday, my solar PV earned FIT payments of about £6 but my combined gas and electricity bill was under £3.

[Deleted User]

As someone who has had solar panels under FIT and now SEG, I am somewhat surprised by the OP’s post. Early FIT adopters not only get 60p/kWh for every unit generated but they get that income, in some cases, for 25 years plus the benefit of import savings.  As a SEG claimant, I get 4.5p/kWh for every unit I export; however, whilst that makes a contribution towards the cost of my array, the payback comes from the energy that I do not pay for. I am looking at a break even point at today’s prices of just over 7 years.

It is also worth pointing out that Ofgem pays all FITs/export payments and these costs are passed on to all energy consumers. Suppliers are just agents of Government. If the OP is hoping that Ofgem will renegotiate the export side of his export tariff, I fear that he will have a long wait.

Cardew

Welcome to the forum.

You would get a more sympathetic response if you posted in the Green and Ethical board of this forum and they might not even comment on your errors.

If you 'got in early' you got paid FIT for everything you generated i.e 100% so if you generate, say, 4,000kWh pa with FIT at its current rate of 60p/kWh you get £2,400 in FIT payments these were inflation linked for 25 years (an increase of 7.5% in 2022) and tax free.

In addition you got a 'deemed' export payment for 50% of your total generation REGARDLESS of how much you actually generated and many divert excess generation to their hot water tanks and/or batteries.

gefnew

My install 2011 fit payment is for 25 years, Cost at the time for a 3.9 Kw system £9785.00p.
It  produces on average 3700 Kwh, that seems ok to me, we use more than fifty percent of this in house.
So with  present FIT payment I would receive 62.355p per Kwh generated that is combining 50% export rate into figure.
But at the time of install the gains were not as great as it is at the moment. 
Therefore £2307 13p a year tax free. So I do not see that your argument stands.

markin

Solar is around 7GW at peak mid day 22% ish, but only around 2gw will be on SEG at 5p or less, only they could be convinced to switch off as a protest.

Dweareit

Thanks for the info… this makes me wonder if I have missed something really big then, I only receive about £600.00 per year and yes my energy bills have been low but I am still paying at least £25-50 per month. 

I installed a 4kW system in 2014… and only get paid for 50% of what I produce and at 14p per kW and I do not believe that has changed in the 8years I have had the panels? I do feel that I have received less in the last couple of years?

I am with Scottish Power for my FIT and paid for the panels as an outright payment.

gefnew

here are some tables with the current rates on.

Export Tariff	Technology Type	Tariff
April 2010 to 30 November 2012	Non- PV	4.25
On or after 1 December 2012	Non- PV	5.99
April 2010 to 31 July 2012	PV	4.25
On or after 1 August 2012	PV	5.99

Photovoltaic	Standard	10	50	Lower	8.28	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Standard	4	10	Higher	16.33	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Standard	4	10	Middle	14.70	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Standard	4	10	Lower	8.28	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	New Build	0	4	Higher	18.02	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	New Build	0	4	Middle	16.22	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	New Build	0	4	Lower	8.28	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Retrofit	0	4	Higher	18.02	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Retrofit	0	4	Middle	16.22	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Retrofit	0	4	Lower	8.28	01/04/2014	30/06/2014
Photovoltaic	Standalone	0	5000	N/A	8.28	01/04/2014	30/06/2014

Cardew

The bottom line is that the FIT subsidy for solar is very generous, particularly for early adopters getting 60p for every kWh they generate, and in addition export payments regardless of how much they export.

Those subsidies, invariably paid to those who own a house, are paid for by a levy on all who consume electricity - including for example the less well off living in blocks of flats.

So your definition of a 'solar rip-off' will not cut much ice.

P.S.

Are you sure you only get FIT on 50% of the electricity your panels generate?

jimjames

Dweareit said:

I installed a 4kW system in 2014… and only get paid for 50% of what I produce and at 14p per kW and I do not believe that has changed in the 8years I have had the panels? I do feel that I have received less in the last couple of years?

You might want to check your payments and the info provided as it sounds like you haven't understood what you are being paid for. It shouldn't be a case of "feeling" you are paid less, make sure you are checking the invoices to find out. It seems unlikely unless your system is faulty so before claiming it's all a rip off you might want to check your details as they don't correspond to the facts.

According to the government scheme you should be paid at 16.2p per kWh for everything you generate and 5.3p per kWh for exported (the deemed 50% amount). Rates will have increased by inflation since those numbers were from 2019 - the numbers are not static.

£600 per year would tie in with those numbers for a 4kW system (assume 4000kWh generated pa) and 50% payment would not give £600.

I've just received a payment for £500 for the Jan-Apr period so I certainly won't be turning my panels off voluntarily.