Renewable energy utility Good Energy criticises UK’s feed-in-tariff rate

4 February 2010

Renewable electricity supplier Good Energy has said it will continue to pay its existing accredited small generators £0.15 a unit for all their electricity, well above the rate of £0.09 set by the government in its new feed-in tariff.

Under the government’s feed-in tariff announced on Monday, the higher payment rates of up to £0.41 will only apply to new generators who installed their technology after 15 July 2009. The company said that those pioneering generators in the UK who installed their technology before that date will only get £0.09 a unit under the government feed-in tariff.

Good Energy said that it does not want its home generators to be worse off under the new feed-in tariff it will continue to pay £0.15 a unit for the next year for accredited generators, and will be lobbying to get the legislation changed.

Juliet Davenport, Good Energy founder and CEO said, ‘It’s outrageous that the new feed-in tariff only pays the highest reward to new generators – Good Energy believes that the early adopters of microgen technology should also be recognised for their pioneering attitude and taking a lead. That’s why we’ve decided to continue paying our existing accredited HomeGen generators £0.15 a unit for all the electricity they generate and lobby to change the government’s mind.’

Good Energy pioneered feed-in payments to small generators in the UK with its HomeGen scheme, launched in 2004 and one in 25 of Good Energy’s customers is also a renewable energy generator. The company also expressed its concern that generators that have not had their systems accredited or who did not apply for accreditation before 15 July 2009, appear set to receive nothing for their electricity under the feed-in tariff.

Davenport said, ‘Good Energy supports over 1000 energy entrepreneurs and has more generators per customer than any other energy company in the UK. We have been running incentivised microgeneration schemes for more than five years so we are the obvious trusted partner for any microgenerator. We’re really proud of our pioneering community and will continue supporting them and campaigning on their behalf where it counts.’

The company said the feed-in tariff will be paid for the total generation of small generators including the units they use themselves. Good Energy said it will pay the top feed-in tariff rates for new generators signing up to its generation schemes.

Copyright © 2010 NewNet

Tags: feed-in tariff

This story was published on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 6:58 pm and is filed under Europe, companies, energy efficiency. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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