Ofgem records 16% increase in FIT scheme failings

Ofgem’s latest supplier performance report (SPR) shows there were more than 350 failings in relation to the Feed-In-Tariff (FIT) scheme in the six months to 31 December 2021.

The figure is an increase of 16.6% compared to the same period in 2020.

The SPR records incidents where retailers have not complied with their obligations under the environmental, energy efficiency and social programmes the regulator administers on behalf of the government.

Ofgem publishes the data for transparency and to hold suppliers to account for non-compliance on the schemes, which are collectively worth more than £8.3 billion a year.

Incidents of non-compliance can increase the costs of delivering and administering the schemes, which can be passed on to consumers through energy bills.

Overall 432 incidents were recorded on the database in H2 2021, compared with 380 during the same period the year before – an increase of more than 13%.

H2 2021 saw administrative incidents increase, while legislative issues decreased.

Issues on the central Feed-In-Tariff register (CFR) accounted for the vast majority at 303 incidents (70%), while other significant issues related to renewables obligation (RO) mutualisation (10.4%) and FIT levelisation (8%).

Overall issues regarding the FIT scheme were by far the most common, with 359 incidents in total – a year on year increase of 16.6%.

In addition to the 303 issues regarding the CFR, there were significant issues with levelisation (35), as well as 21 incidents involving biennial meter verification – where FIT licencees are required to verify generation and/or export meter readings, at least once every two years.

Of the 65 incidents reported on the RO scheme almost 88% (57) related to payment issues, 45 of these related to mutualisation payments and the remining 12 to the 2020-21 RO compliance round.