Suppliers to pay out £800,000 to FiT generators

Hundreds of generators receiving subsidies through the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) scheme will be paid a total of nearly £800,000 in refunds and compensation after being subject to unauthorised charges by suppliers making the payments, Ofgem has revealed.

Under the subsidy scheme for small-scale low-carbon generation, accredited installations receive payments from participating energy suppliers for electricity they generate and export to the power grid.

Good Energy, a voluntary FiT licensee, has been found by Ofgem to have levied an unauthorised quarterly administration charge of £25 per installation on a number of generators. Of the roughly 182,000 accredited generators it serves, 1,167 – or 0.6% – were charged at least once. The company has agreed to refund £453,000 of charges and make goodwill payments of £200,000.

Meanwhile, F&S Energy, another voluntary FIT licensee, was found to have applied an unauthorised quarterly administration charge of £100 (previously £20) per installation to 80 generators. It additionally applied an unauthorised biennial meter verification charge of £55 (previously £100) per installation to 453 generators. The company has agreed to refund £94,040 of charges to the affected generators and make goodwill payments of £50,000.

Ofgem said the charges were in breach of the suppliers’ obligations as FiT licensees.

“The energy companies’ non-compliance meant that FIT generators received less FIT payments than they were entitled to,” it explained.

Cathryn Scott, director of enforcement and emerging issues, said: “It is important that those partaking in decarbonisation schemes remain compliant, and that renewable generation is appropriately incentivised in line with government policy.

“The outcome of this matter sends a clear reminder to suppliers that they must comply with their obligations under the decarbonisation schemes and must ensure that FIT generators receive payments they are entitled to for their renewable generation.”