Getting paid for domestic production of renewables
When we put solar panels on our house in late 2004, we thought we agreed to sell the electricity they generated. In fact, we did nothing of the sort. Npower paid us 4p a kilowatt hour (a 'unit') but the surplus electricity just spilled into the local electricity network, benefiting Scottish and Southern, the local distribution company. The sums were so small that npowerd didn't mind paying for the electricity we generated, even though it got no benefit. We got a cheque for £70 a year, and npower got the PR value of 200 or so domestic PV installations. It correctly claimed to be the single largest buyer of electricty from UK roofs. This was a silly arrangement, and no good for the long-term health of domestic renewables. So I have now tried to become a real electricity generator, paid accurately for the electricity we generate on the same basis as a large wind farm or hydro station. This means signing up with an electricity company that is prepared to pay you for the units that your PV panels actually export to the local electricity distribution system, and, in addition, register for ROC (certiificates that reflect the amount of renewable energy that you actually produce). In 'How to Live a Low Carbon Life' I describe this process as quite simple. I was in error. It takes hours. First, you have to sign up to an electricity supplier that is prepared to buy your surplus, then you have to fill in one of the dreaded ROC forms mandated by the regulator OFGEM. This took me about 3 hours, and involved numerous trips to the meters in our house. I also had to get contracts from Scottish and Southern and arrange for a new export meter to be installed. (This has yet to be done). So far, the whole process has taken me over 5 hours, and I will need to do more work every year. I'll be lucky if we get a cheque for £90 at the end of the annual process. Ofgem has promised to simplify the system, but its latest form is almost identical to the previous version. At 19 pages, it would frighten anybody without a detailed knowledge of the way the UK electricity industry works. There are about 4,000 domestic electricity generators in the UK and I doubt whether more than 50 have managed the process of filling in forms and getting contracts with suppliers. I'm sure that my forms will be sent back several times before I complete them correctly. In some senses, this is absurd. Why should the industry make it so difficult for new small suppliers to get paid? The problem is that my 1500 kwh a year (less than half the typical home's total consumption) is simply not worth buying. Our installation and other domestic wind generators and PV panels are completely irrelevant. It makes no economic sense for the industry to want to buy our output, and the processes we have to engage in reflect this simple fact.
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