Posted: 31 August, 2018. Written by Virginia Graham
RECC yesterday responded to Government's Call for Evidence on future support for small-scale renewable energy.Launched in parallel with a consultation on the planned closure of the Feed-In Tariff Scheme, the Call for Evidence seeks stakeholders' views on the merits of a range of different support mechanims going forward.
RECC is calling on Government to announce the extension of the deemed export tariff element of the Feed-In Tariff for small-scale generators with renewable electricity systems commissioned after 31 March 2019.
RECC argues that, in the short term, this will allow for the equitable treatment of small-scale generators who would otherwise be unrewarded for exporting power to the grid. In the medium to long term RECC argues that all generators are likely to have export or smart meters which will allow them to measure precisely the power they export to the grid and to strike agreements with electricity suppliers accordingly. However, RECC argues that export meters can be costly and that closing the deemed export tariff element of the Feed-In Tariff without a viable replacement will disproportionately affect smaller generators on lower incomes.
RECC also argues that, importantly, maintaining the deemed export tariff element of the Feed-In Tariff will allow for continued regulatory oversight of the sector, with products and installations compliant with MCS standards and Consumer Code requirements. This will be very important for consumers who otherwise risk being exposed to low quality installations and rogue traders. It will also allow for the details of installations to continue to be maintained in the Microgeneration Installer Database (MID) which is a very valuable resource for policy-makers and regulators alike.
In its response RECC provided the results of a survey of members carried out during August. 56% of respondents said that the closure of the Feed-In Tariff Scheme without a replacement would have a very negative impact on their business.