Renewable electricity provider Good Energy has launched a new scheme for its customers on Feed-in Tariffs (FiTs) which could earn them more from the power they generate.
The Chippenham-headquartered group, the UK’s largest voluntary FiT administrator with more than 180,000 generation customers, piloted the new FiT smart export service in December, with plans to roll out to 80,000 customers this year.
The move into smart export marks an evolution for the business as it scales its ambition to help 1m homes and businesses cut carbon from their energy and transport use by 2025.
Good Energy says it sees significant potential in the scalability of smart export as demand increases from consumers and businesses looking to generate their own power to reduce their costs and generate income at the same time as reducing their carbon footprint, a trend supported by increasingly affordable low-carbon technology.
Customers moving to smart export will receive payment for the actual amount of electricity they export, rather than half of what they generate, which is the FiT scheme’s standard estimate of the proportion of power customers’ export.
The new service means that customers exporting more than 50% have the opportunity to earn more, making payments simpler, clearer and fairer for thousands of homes that micro-generate their own electric power through technologies such as solar panels and micro-wind turbines.
A small number of Good Energy customers took part in December’s pilot, with numbers scheduled to ramp up throughout this year.
Customers will continue to receive their FiT unit rates but with the opportunity to earn more based on how much they actually export onto the grid.
Good Energy is also offering heat pump installations alongside solar panels following its £1.75m acquisition of Igloo Works in December.
The group said it was looking to scale this offer as part of its strategy to provide services which help homes and businesses generate, store, use and share their own power.
The move is part of Good Energy’s ongoing search for growth opportunities in other green energy markets – it also part owns fast-growing electric vehicle charge point mapping app Zap-Map.
Good Energy CEO Nigel Pocklington said: “Good Energy has long been a pioneer in supporting small-scale clean energy generation and this launch continues that tradition of innovation.
“As a leading player in helping homes and businesses generate their own clean power, it’s a big moment not only for Good Energy but for a future decarbonised, decentralised and digitalised electricity grid.
“The switch from deemed to actual metered export for tens of thousands of small generators, and all the data that will provide, is a huge step in making that future a reality.”
Good Energy was launched more than 20 years ago with a mission to power a cleaner, greener world and make it simple to generate, share, store, use and travel by clean power.
