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Mark Group Welcomes Government Plans for
Feed-in Tariffs

Tuesday 02 February 2010

Plans announced by the Government yesterday (Monday 1st February 2010) for the launch of a Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme have been welcomed by the Mark Group – the UK’s leading domestic installer of energy-saving solutions.

Dubbed as ‘clean energy cash back’, the FIT scheme has been designed to encourage homeowners to generate their own electricity, instead of simply consuming it – helping to generate a low carbon society.

The published announcement states that those generating their own small scale, low carbon electricity will be paid 41.3p for each kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity produced – an increase praised by the Mark Group from 36.5p/kWh figure originally proposed. This figure will also be linked to the Retail Price Index and will be classed as non-taxable income.*

Furthermore, the rates announced today will be held for two years, until 31 March 2012**, allowing the scheme to gather momentum and homeowners to fully consider the benefits of microgeneration for their property.

Mark Group Divisional Head for Solar Photovoltaic, Miles Schofield, said: “This announcement has been long-awaited and will hopefully become the force behind driving the UK to follow the examples set by its European neighbours. We are also pleased with the figures quoted for UK homeowners and the confirmation that the scheme will be tax exempt, with rates protected for two years.

The maximum electricity production for eligibility for the scheme will be set at 5 megawatts, well above the rate typical for households in the UK, but will mean that small businesses and community facilities will also be able to benefit and ultimately help the Government to achieve its 2020 renewable energy targets.

Miles continued: “The scheme is due to launch in April of this year which means we will all be working to a tight timetable but we are positive that with continued support from the Government, this can be achieved.”

Grants are available for the installation of microgeneration technology nationwide and further information on these and the FIT scheme are available at www.decc.gov.uk

*All generation and export tariffs will be linked to the Retail Price Index (RPI), and FITs income for domestic properties generating electricity mainly for their own use will not be taxable income for the purposes of income tax.

Once an installation has been allocated a generation tariff, that tariff remains fixed (though will alter with inflation as above) for the life of that installation or the life of the tariff, whichever is the shorter.

**After 24 months rates will decrease by 7% each year.

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