Smart Export Guarantee to replace Export Tariff

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has unveiled a new ‘Smart Export Guarantee’ to replace the export tariff.

Proposals unveiled by the department detail how the guarantee would work in practice, legislating that all large energy suppliers will have to remunerate small-scale generators for the electricity they export to the grid.

The guarantee would see all large energy suppliers – determined as those with more than 250,000 customers – offer generators a price per kilowatt hour for exported electricity.

Government intends to leave these prices down to the suppliers themselves, however all tariffs must be greater than zero and suppliers will not be eligible to recover costs by charging consumers at times of negative pricing.

Large suppliers will be forced to offer at least one tariff, however they will determine the length of any contracts.

Small suppliers will be able to voluntarily join the mechanism but will be held against the same operational requirements as large suppliers. Crucially, there will be no levelisation of costs – suppliers providing an guarantee tariff will be expected to take administration costs into account when setting their tariffs.

Currently in consultation but Smart meters are essential to the plan as it will be on 1/2 hour billing with no "deemed export"

Interesting times!

Added Wednesday 16th January 2019