Good Energy boosts cash for green power payout scheme

As the Renewable Energy Association prepares to set out its proposals for UK feed-in tariff, green energy provider Good Energy has this week announced it is to increase the payments it already makes to home owners and small businesses that generate renewable energy on site from 10p to 15p per KWh.

The increased payment, which will take effect from 1 April, applies to all the energy the company's HomeGen customers produce using micro-generation technologies such as solar panels or small-scale wind turbines, not just the power they export to the grid.

Juliet Davenport, Good Energy’s founder and chief executive, urged the government to adopt the model as the basis for its planned feed-in tariff, arguing that it is important to reward total generation rather than just exported electricity as it encourages more efficient use of the power produced by micro-generation systems.

According to Good Energy, the increase in payments means that a customer with a 2KW solar generator boasting an estimated annual generation of 1,750kWh would receive approximately £245. In addition, if the customer used just half of this power onsite, reducing the amount of power they need to draw from the grid they would cut their electricity bills by £123 a year.

The scheme, which essentially involves Good Energy selling less energy over the grid and paying customers to use energy they produce and use themselves, is made financially viable by the government's Renewables Obligation subsidy mechanism, which allows the company to bundle together the power it has bought from customers and sell the renewable obligation certificates that are issued against it.