As is usually the case within the solar pv industry around this time of year, there have been a lot of wide spread rumours and speculation as to what is going to happen to the feed in tariff as we approach the January 1st deadline. It is now a known fact that the feed in tariff is reviewed on a quarterly basis, specifically on the 1st of January, on the 1st of April, on the 1st of July and finally on the 1st of October.
Just because a tariff review is scheduled to take place, it does not automatically mean that the feed in tariff will be reduced or indeed increased. It is simply an opportunity for the feed in tariff to be looked at. Take, for example, the last 2 feed in tariff reviews that took place. Both of these reviews, 1st of July 2014 and 1st of October 2014, saw no movement at all on the feed in tariff and as such it remained at 14.38 pence for every unit generated by a solar pv install. However, the feed in tariff prior to the April 1st review stood at 14.77 pence per unit.
So what will happen when the feed in tariff is reviewed on 1st of January 2015? Well, it has been confirmed that the feed in tariff will be reduced by 3.5% to 13.88 pence per unit. This does not mean that solar pv is not a viable option. In fact the opposite is true. As electricity prices soar, having solar panels is going to be more and more attractive. After all, the export tariff of 4.77 pence isn’t affected, and the feed in tariff has got nothing to do with the free energy that can be generated.
Even if the feed in tariff is abolished completely in time, solar panels will continue to be a sound investment.
