A feed-in tariff (FIT) is paid by energy suppliers in the United Kingdom if a property or organisation generates their own electricity using technology such as solar panels or wind turbines and feeds any surplus back to the grid.
The FIT scheme entered into law through the Energy Act 2008[2] and commenced in April 2010,[3] with backdated applications accepted for generation systems installed from July 2009 onwards.
The key findings were that users have had a wide variety of experiences, depending on the technology they are working with, and that the government had very limited ambitions on small-scale renewable energy generation.
The factors include cost, size, availability, standardisation of the technology, planning issues, ease of installation, perceived sensory impact (sight, sound and smell) and administrative complexity.
The proposed changes to the tariff levels for PV have been met with anger by many in the solar industry, but the FIT policy, along with the Green Investment Bank and now carbon reduction targets, are widely understood to be threatened by the Treasury department.
[12] Less than a year into the scheme, in March 2011 the new coalition Government announced that support for large-scale photovoltaic installations (greater than 50 kW) would be cut.
In addition, generators with more than 25 solar PV installations were granted a 10% increase in the amount they receive from the FIT, from 80% to 90%, this however will not be likely to affect domestic users.
[18] The cut in FITs was due to the falling installation costs, and the fact that people were applying for the feed-in tariff scheme in numbers exceeding DECC forecasts and funding allocations.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) published a consultation on 19 July 2018, and stated their intention to close the FIT scheme to new applicants from 1 April 2019[21] and not replace it with a new subsidy.
This is not a direct replacement of the feed-in tariff scheme, but rather a new initiative that rewards solar generators for electricity exported to the grid.
The FIT scheme has created a number of start-up companies providing free electricity[26] in return for installing solar panels on the homeowner's roof.