Image: Nottingham City Council
The Solar Trade Association (STA) has issued an open letter to suppliers calling for export tariffs before the 1 January 2020 deadline.
Under the government’s Smart Export Guarantee, suppliers with over 150,000 customers have until the end of the year to offer an export tariff for excess domestic solar generation. Currently, only Octopus Energy is offering an export tariff to all its customers with solar. E.On is also offering a tariff, but it only extends to the first 500 customers and lasts a year.
Chris Hewett, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, has written an open letter to suppliers urging them to offer export tariffs before the deadline. Hewett is also requesting information on any export tariffs on offer the STA is unaware of or any future plans for export tariffs. Offers will be monitored through its online League Table.
The letter also requests information on the barriers to providing competitive offers.
“Government policy in recent years has caused the domestic solar and storage markets to slow. Policy now relies squarely on the market stepping forward to provide a fair export price for those investing in solar power," said Hewett.
“As the UK moves towards net zero and the ‘smart’ transformation of our energy sector we hope that suppliers will see good strategic reasons for accelerating meaningful offers and we urge them to do so as soon as possible,” he continued, adding that there is “a real appetite” for domestic solar and storage in the UK.