 metering’ will likely start with micro-generators, and these meters will be capable of recording import & export, and so will replace old meters as well as deeming.
Feed in Tariff (Clean Energy Cashback)
Feed in Tariffs replace the old grant and Renewable Obligation Certificate system, and are intended to be incentive enough for people to install renewable energy without grant funding. Payments are linked to inflation, and continue for a period of 25 years. The FiT is subject to degression which will reduce the rate, but only for new installations - once you install the system the rate is set.
The rates are:
|Size & nature of system||Payment / kWh generated|
|4 - 10kWp||16.8p|
|10 - 50kWp||15.2p|
|50 - 250kWp||12.9p|
|250kWp - 5MW||8.9p|
So for an example 4kWp system generating 3400kWh / year, you could expect:
|1.||3400 x 21p||=||£714|
|2.||1700 x 16p||=||£272|
|3.||1700 x 3p||=||£51|
|Total 1st year income||=||£1,037|
- No2 assumes 50% of the power generated is used in the home (during sunny days), offsetting usual import cost of around 16p / kWh (inc VAT)
- No3 refers to the other 50% exported to the grid at minimum export price of 3p / kWh.
The 4kWp system above would typically cost £9000 (including 2 storey scaffolding & 5% VAT).
Payback – At a cost of £9000 and with an annual benefit of £1037, this example system will pay for itself in under 9 years. This ignores the effect of inflation and electricity price rises which will continually increase the value of the system.
Energy Performance Certificates
An EPC of band D or above is now needed in order to claim the standard FiT rate for the size of your system.
Solstice Energy is qualified to provide domestic EPC's, and we know that band D is not hard to reach. Those 100 year-old, solid walled, sash windowed properties are still achieving a D as long as the basics are in place - loft insulation, good heating controls etc, and there are companies offering "no D, no fee" promises because of this confidence. The addition of a solar PV or thermal system adds a lot of points and can be included on the certificate.
The EPC for your property would be provided free with any installation. If we have doubts about the ability of the building to reach a D then we will produce a 'mock' EPC after our initial site-visit so there would be no nasty surprises.
Non-domestic buildings also require an EPC to get the standard FiT rate, and we could arrange this through an external energy assessor.