FAQs

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Feed-in tariffs are payments made to homeowners and businesses for the renewable electricity they generate.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

The MCS is a scheme which provides accreditation for installers and certification of products. It also helps to provide assurance for customers. More information can be found at ...

www.microgenerationcertification.org

1 Solar Energy Ltd installations are MCS accredited.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Entitlement to payments under the FIT scheme belongs to the legal owner of the generation equipment, however it is possible to 'assign' your rights to FITs payments to somebody else. To arrange this you would need to contact the energy company that makes the FITs payments and they will update the central database at OFGEM. It is worth noting that only the legal owner can request such an assignment and also that the legal owner can cancel this off the central database at any time without the consent of the other party.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Entitlement to payments under the FIT scheme belongs to the legal owner of the generation equipment (i.e. whoever paid for the solar PV installation). The expectation is that during the sale of a house the generation station would also be sold at the same time, with the market compensating the seller with a higher sale price. Following this transfer, which would need to be supported by evidence such as a contract, the new owner's details would need to be entered onto the central FITs database. Entitlement to FITs payments would then transfer to the new owner.

In theory it may be possible for the original owner to keep legal ownership of the PV system following the sale of the main property and retain the rights to the FITs payments. The practicalities of this may however be problematic. Somebody would still need to provide meter readings and the access requirements for this would need to be discussed. There may also be other legal considerations and easements to be drawn into the contract of sale and this would likely be more costly and troublesome than it is worth.

Whilst it is expected that a solar PV system would add to the sale price of a property due to the fact that the scheme is so new there is little evidence on how much this increase might be. Specialist advice from an estate agent may be beneficial.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Entitlement to payments under the FIT scheme belongs to the legal owner of the generation equipment (i.e. who paid for the solar PV installation). Unless the landlord assigns the rights to the tenant (see "Can I pass my rights to receive FITs payments to somebody else?" above) the landlord is still entitled to the generation and export tariffs. The tenant would however get the benefit of the generated electricity they use and so get cheaper bills. In such circumstances the energy company can organise this payment to be processed separately to the actual import bill and can setup a correspondence address for FITs matters so that the landlord gets these letters directly.

One thing to consider is that as the beneficiary of the FIT scheme you would need to supply your FITs provider with generation and export meter readings. If the tenant wanted to switch supplier it is still possible to stay with your FITs licensee although this may need to be discussed with them.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Essentially yes. It is possible to have a situation where the legal owner of the generating equipment is not the legal owner of the property itself. As a prevention against fraud evidence of such an agreement (e.g. a contract) would be needed setting out the exact terms of the agreement. In this situation the legal owner of the generating system is entitled to all FITs payments.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

The tariff you will receive depends on both the mix of technologies used as well as when each system is installed.

If you have a different technology installed (e.g. you have a 3kWp solar PV system installed and you already have a wind turbine) your new system will receive the full tariff so long as it has a separate meter. If the technologies are both connected to the same generation meter then it is possible to get a pro-rated tariff code based on the capacities of each separate generator. If this is the situation then it may be necessary to speak to OFGEM directly.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Yes, FITs are payable for off-grid systems, however you cannot get the 3p per kWh export tariff.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Unfortunately the answer to this is no. The Feed in Tariff is based on total system size at a generation site so phases play no part. So 4kWp per phase is viewed, under FITs, as a 12kWp system and paid on the 10-100kWp tariff.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

Most FITs are paid quarterly or 6 monthly by personal cheque depending on the electricity supplier. If you do not have an export meter, some suppliers will make an estimate for systems up to 30kW.

Date Added: 29 November, 2011

In addition to your microgeneration technology, Planet Earth Green Energy Ltd will fit a generation meter. It is the reading from this meter that your Feed-in Tariff will be calculated from.