Solar Panels
Who Will Pay Me My Feed In Tariff (FITs)
The UK government started a scheme on April 1, 2010 to encourage consumers to use renewable energy such as PV solar panels. The FITs or Feed-in Tariff scheme was introduced. Consumers are asking who will pay me my feed in tariff (FITs)?
Feed-in tariffs are paid by electricity providers referred to as FIT Licensees to households and organisations that generate electricity from renewable resources regardless of how they use the electricity. Power companies are required by law to pay a fixed amount to the consumers using solar PV panels. The FITs income is guaranteed for 25 years.
Generally, the company that provides you with regular electricity is the same company that will pay the FITs payment. This however may not necessarily be applicable to all cases. The deciding factor will include the size of the power company and what the homeowner prefers.
The FITs scheme is not funded by the government but by electricity providers. The objective for the scheme is to reach the targeted amount of electricity coming from renewable resource such as solar power. The government intends to raise the number of home PV systems by 750,000 in the succeeding 10 years.
Since the income is guaranteed for the next 25 years, users of solar PVpanels are assured of fixed income at the same time the households or organizations will be able to recover the amount they invested for the PV technology. The consumers do not only earn money they also help preserve the environment as well. PV systems are critical for the reduction of harmful carbon dioxide emissions.
The electricity providers pay the PV system user 41.3 pence per kilowatt hour of electricity they generate. Aside from the 41.3 pence, they also pay 3 pence for every unit of electricity exported to the grid for other consumer use. This rate is applicable up to April 2012. After April 2012, the applicable rate for FITs scheme is 37.8 pence per unit of electricity.