No Feed in tariff drop

[MCS Renewables]

According to this :-

https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/ofgem-publications/84190/fitpaymenttable1january2014tariffs.pdf

The feed in tariff is set at the current rate until at least the 1st April 2014.

 

[MCS Renewables]

There will definitely be a regression in April 2014 though as DECC terms have rules that will trigger an automatic reduction after three periods regardless of install numbers.

 

[TJLinks]

Has anyone got the rates for other renewable technologies, bio mass, air source etc?

 

[MCS Renewables]

Energy Saving Trust website :-

Renewable Heat Incentive

 

[infinity]

so why all the talk of the december cut off?

 

[Gavin A]

because there would have been a drop if the installation rate had been high enough last quarter, but the figures were released a month ago, making it obvious there wasn't going to be a cut.

I've no idea why it takes so long for decc / ofgem to actually officially announce this fact - had a bit of a 'discussion' with decc on that last quarter, and it seems that they only work to the absolute minimum specified by the legislation, won't consider going a bit above and beyond the call of duty and actually announcing things as soon as possible.

I meant to post up this data last month, but have been too busy.

What is actually happening on 1st Jan though is that this is a cut off point for installations to receive the inflation linked uprating on 1st April 2014, so installations installed from 1st Jan-end March will stay at the current FIT rate for an extra year before getting the uprating. This is actually just as significant as a 3.5% FIT cut really.

 

[MCS Renewables]

I doubt very much if there will ever be a FIT reduction based on installation numbers again being as the amount of MCS registered companies is down by 55%, four to five times as many people leave the scheme as join every month, and 60% of registered companies have not registered an install for more than six months!

Obviously those who are not installing are just running their memberships down and will not re register on renewal date.

Those of us who are left standing can only do a certain amount of jobs ....

1. good news is maybe we can put prices up for a change
2. bad news society hears so many sob stories about departed sh#te companies and their installs we are all classed as lepers

 

[Gavin A]

I suspect that we could hit the deployment rate needed for a higher rate reduction / earlier reduction at some point next year once the impact of the price hikes in energy costs this winter is felt, and added in to the payback calcs, plus all the customers from this year talking about how well their system has performed again due to the better sunlight levels etc. If the winter isn't too hard, it could even follow on from the 1st quarter with the FIT cut driving demand on top of the energy price rises... stranger things have happened, and we've got 5 months to build sales in advance of the cut.

And I suspect that those companies left standing will be in a better position next year to handle increased demand - we could certainly have installed a lot more PV this year if we'd had the capacity to handle the increase in inquiries better, we now have that increased capacity. FWIW we just had by far the highest number of inquiries for solar PV installs at the home building and renovation show that we've done for 3 years, with 55 serious inquiries - it seems virtually every self building now wants solar PV as a matter of course, rather than it being a bit of a luxury item.