Consultation outcome

Feed-in Tariffs - first phase of a comprehensive review

From:: Department of Energy & Climate Change
Published: 31 October 2011

Download the full outcome

Feed in Tariff Review Phase I Government Response

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Detail of outcome

Original consultation

Consultation description

On 31 October 2011 the Government published a consultation on phase 1 of the Feed-in Tariffs Comprehensive Review.

An announcement on 19 January 2012 confirmed the new tariffs for solar PV that will continue to provide a competitive return on investment for householders, communities and others. The new tariffs are (from 1 April 2012) designed to apply to all installations with an eligibility date from 3 March 2012 onwards. To implement the new tariffs, the Government laid before Parliament draft modifications to the standard conditions of electricity supply licences in line with the process set out in the Energy Act 2008. These modifications have now been made and came into force from the 3 March 2012.

On 9 February 2012 the Government responded to the other aspects of the phase 1 consultation. This response sets out the Government’s final decisions on the details of the new energy efficiency requirement, and of the new multi-installation tariff rates. We have listened carefully to concerns raised in response to the consultation and have decided that the energy efficiency requirement should be based on an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating of level D or above, not level C or any other option as previously mooted.

We have also decided that the threshold at which the multi-installation tariff rates apply should be increased from generators with more than one PV installation to those with more than 25. This aims to help community groups, small businesses and councils who do not benefit from the economies of scale that larger aggregators can obtain.

To enact these decisions, on 9 February we laid before Parliament draft licence modifications to the standard conditions of electricity supply licences in line with the process set out in the Energy Act 2008. These modifications have now been made and came into effect for new PV installations with an eligibility date on or after 1 April 2012

Contact us

Email: fits@decc.gsi.gov.uk Post: Feed-in Tariffs team

Department of Energy and Climate Change

3 Whitehall Place

London

SW1A2AW

Phase 1 Consultation

A consultation was launched on Phase 1 and ran until 23 December 2011. The proposals were subject to an eight-week consultation period and they introduce a new tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size of 21.0p/kWh - down from the current 43.3p/kWh. Reduced rates are also introduced for schemes between 4kW and 250kW, to ensure that those schemes receive a consistent rate of return.

The table of tariffs is below.

Table of solar PV tariffs

Band (kW) Current generation tariff (p/kWh) New generation tariff (p/kWh)

?4kW (new build) 37.8 21.0

?4kW (retrofit) 43.3 21.0

4-10kW 37.8 16.8

10-50kW 32.9 15.2

50-100kW 19 12.9

100-150kW 19 12.9

150-250kW 15 12.9

250kW-5MW 8.5 8.9

stand alone 8.5 8.9

DECC has produced a guide for consumers explaining how the changes proposed in the 31 October consultation would affect them. In addition, Renewable Energy Assurance Limited (REAL) has written to installers.

Read the REAL email to installers [filetype:pdf filesize: 68.58Kb]

Consumers and industry representatives should also view the ‘Where do I find out more’ section to find out who to contact for further information.

Energy Saving Trust website also offers information about your options. Energy Savings Trust helpline: 0800 512 012.

Fast-track review

The consultation on the fast-track review was held from 18 March to 6 May 2011.

The outcome of this consultation was announced on 9 June 2011. This confirmed that, having carefully considered the responses received, the Coalition Government has decided to proceed with the proposed tariff reductions for large-scale solar PV (over 50 kilowatts), all stand-alone PV projects and increases for farm-scale AD projects (up to and including 500 kilowatts). The detail of this decision and the analysis underpinning it are set out in

Feed-in Tariffs scheme: Summary of responses to the Fast Track Consultation and Government Response. [filetype:pdf filesize: 279.21Kb]

Modifications to the Standard Conditions of Electricity Supply Licences. These modifications also include the new higher tariffs for farm-scale AD projects (up to and including 500 kilowatts). However, the implementation of the new AD tariffs was conditional on state aid approval.

European Commission has now made its decision on the new AD tariffs. New tariffs for AD will apply to installations with an eligibility date from 30 September 2011, which is the date on which the Commission made the decision.

Extensions

Since announcing the outcome of the fast-track review, DECC became increasingly aware of evidence some large-scale solar PV developers were intending to use provisions in the FITs legislation on the accreditation of extensions to installations, to take advantage of the current tariffs beyond 1 August 2011. This was not the intended effect of the extension rules and was clearly inconsistent with the objective of the fast-track review.

consultation on the treatment of extensions was held from 27 July to 31 August 2011.

The outcome of this consultation was announced on 27 September 2011 and confirmed the decision to amend the rules on extensions.

Feed-in Tariffs (Specified Maximum Capacity and Functions) (Amendment No.3) Order 2011, which was laid in Parliament on 27 September 2011 and came into force on 18 October 2011.