Jargon Busting: The Smart Export Guarantee

[social_warfare]

With the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) closing to new applicants on March 31st 2019, people have been eager to hear if a replacement will be offered in place of the export tariff, to ensure that homeowners using their solar panels to generate renewable energy are fairly compensated for energy exported back to the grid.

On January 8th, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) released their proposed “Smart Export Guarantee” (SEG), a proposal which is open for feedback until March 5th. Unfortunately, it is likely that there will be an interval whereby new micro-generation installations will not be paid for any energy they export.

Overview of the proposed Smart Export Guarantee

• Energy suppliers must pay homeowners for any electricity they export back to the grid from their installation.
• All exports must be metered, not estimated as it is under the Feed-in Tariff, meaning only households with a meter would be eligible.
• The price that suppliers have to pay has not been specified. We will have to wait and see what price per kWh suppliers offer along with the length of the contract and any other incentives.
• Only energy suppliers with over 250,000 customers have to offer payment for exported electricity, smaller suppliers can opt in to the scheme if they wish.
• Participating suppliers must register their contracted installations with the Balancing and Settlement Code (BSC).
• All installations participating must be completed in accordance with the Micro-generation Certification Scheme (MCS).

Our initial thoughts on the SEG

Moixa CEO Simon Daniel said, “the introduction of this scheme will help to ensure the continued success of domestic solar in the UK, which is hugely important for delivering on our decarbonisation targets. The Smart Export Guarantee will also boost the uptake of smart home energy storage systems, as they will enable users to maximise their financial returns by storing energy until they can get the best possible price.”