Feed-In Tariffs
Feed-in-Tariffs were introduced by the Government on the 1st April 2010.
The introduction of this scheme means that you will now be paid for every unit of electricity that you generate, even if you use it yourself! So, rather than PAYING around 15p for every unit of electricity you use, the Government will PAY YOU 21p.
And there's more...
- As stated above, you've saved the cost of buying from the grid, typically 15p/unit.
- Then you've been paid by the Government another 21p/unit.
- But if you generate more than you have used, this surplus will be exported back to the grid and you'll pocket another 3.1p/unit!
And remember that the 15p/unit you pay now won't be the same price in say 5 years time! You may speculate what others will be paying for their electricity in the future but you will be fixing your electricity prices to minus 21p/unit for the next 25 years.
All this is guaranteed by the Government for the next 25 years, is index linked and tax free. A 4kWp system could save you £1,000 a year which equates to a return on investment of around 12%pa.
Too good to be true?
Well it sounds like it but this is a scheme guaranteed by the Government. They have committed us to reducing carbon emissions and solar panels will play a key part in helping us achieve these goals.
The Government have introduced this incentive scheme to encourage homeowners to invest in clean energy sources and solar PV arguably provides the best way of achieving that.