How can I earn more from my FIT portfolio?
The Feed in Tariff (FIT) offered an incentive to homes and businesses to install solar panels and make the electricity grid greener. Although the scheme closed to new customers in 2019, it runs for existing customers for 20 years – giving them between 5 and 14 years left of earnings.
Many portfolio generators believe that because FIT rates were set by the government, there is no way for them to increase their earnings. This isn’t true.
In this article, we discuss three ways to earn more from your FIT portfolio – and how to go about switching to Good Energy.
1. Benefit from proactive FIT account management
Good Energy is the largest voluntary FIT administrator in the UK. We pride ourselves on the free service we offer to our customers, which not only makes it easier for them to manage their FIT portfolios, it protects them from payment delays.
Every customer – however large or small – is assigned a dedicated account manager that truly understands their portfolio and provides continuity for quick resolution of issues and queries.
With our streamlined, digital service, customers can upload all of their quarterly readings into their online account in one batch, for instant verification. Any errors are highlighted immediately so that customers can fix issues and get their full payment each time. What’s more, we protect your account from being put on hold, by never letting your meter verification requirements go over 5%. This means no missed payments.
We’re constantly looking to improve the service we offer our customers and are currently working on developing bespoke digital insights. This new service will enable customers to compare performance across their portfolios, geographically and throughout the year. Not only does this help them to report on their earnings and carbon savings, it makes it easier to spot any underperformance – which might be due to defective solar panels.
2. Switch to Smart Export
When the Feed in Tariff Scheme was launched, the smart meter rollout was in its infancy and there was no way of knowing how much electricity each site exported. Customers submitted a quarterly reading detailing all the power they had generated and got paid an export rate for an estimated 50% of this power.
Good Energy is one of the first FIT administrators to be proactively moving FIT customers to Smart Export. Smart Export pays customers accurately for the electricity they export to the grid, by using readings from a smart meter. And it’s resulting in most customers making more money.
In a first-of-its-kind research, Good Energy has uncovered that FIT portfolio generators export a median 66% of the power they generate.
This means that customers that aren’t on Smart Export are missing out on being paid for a high percentage of their exported power. This can lead to substantial additional earnings – for example, a generator with 1,000 3.5kW FIT sites could earn an additional £35,000 a year by switching to Smart Export.
Once an export meter has been installed, FIT customers have the flexibility to switch between Smart Export and an export tariff once per year to maximise their earnings.
3. Get paid for your REGOs
Good Energy has just launched a new service, FIT REGO Boost, which offers FIT customers another way to earn from their solar PV portfolio.
REGOs (Renewable Energy Guarantee of Origin) are certificates that get assigned for every 1MW of renewable energy generated in the UK. REGOs are used by energy suppliers like Good Energy to prove that the electricity they’re buying is generated from renewable sources. In recent years, the value of these certificates has increased, meaning that they’ve become another worthwhile revenue stream for small-scale generators; and a recognition for their contribution to making the grid greener for everyone.
Becoming REGO accredited by yourself can be complicated and very time consuming, particularly for portfolio customers. At Good Energy, we take all the hard work out of this process.
We will register your sites for REGO accreditation, buy the certificates from you at a competitive market rate and provide an annual REGO payment directly into your bank account.
FIT REGO Boost is for solar PV sites under 50kW each. You will need to move your sites to Good Energy before joining this product.
Enquire about switching your FIT portfolio to Good Energy
Switching to Good Energy could help you to significantly increase your annual earnings from your FIT portfolio.
To start your switch, all we need is a FIT site number, generation ID, address and a recent meter reading for each site. Our knowledgeable, helpful team will work closely with you as you source this information, giving you all the information you need to navigate switching your portfolio simply and quickly.
If you want to find out more about the services we can offer or enquire about switching, please get in touch.