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Explanatory note

Original text. Later amendments are not shown.

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order, which extends to Great Britain, amends the Feed-in Tariffs Order 2012 (“the 2012 Order”).

The Order inserts article 24A (accredited FIT installations) into the 2012 Order to provide for the treatment of Feed-in Tariff (“FIT”) generators if the FIT licensee from whom they are receiving payments for their accredited installation has its licence revoked, or enters insolvency. A further article 24B (other installations not yet accredited) is inserted to provide for the treatment of a FIT generator who has made a request for MCS-certified registration for their FIT installation from a licensee, but the licensee has its licence revoked etc. before registering that installation.

Mutualisation is a process by which costs arising from the non-payment of periodic levelisation payments are allocated among the FIT licensees. In order to provide for the mutualisation of the unpaid amounts of levelisation payments, the Order amends articles 27 (calculation of FIT contributions, etc), 29 (notice of levelisation payments), 30 (payments by the Authority) and 38 (determinations relating to levelisation) of the 2012 Order and inserts new articles 30A (mutualisation), 30B (termination of supply licence), 30C (levelisation correction), 30D (late payments) and 38A.

Article 27 is also amended to remove net metered export payments from the calculation of the FIT contribution of a licensee.

Article 30A provides the conditions which will trigger a mutualisation, how the Authority is to apportion the unpaid amounts among the licensees and how a mutualisation payment is to be distributed.

Article 30B provides what happens in respect of levelisation and mutualisation if in the course of a FIT year, a FIT licensee has its licence terminated.

Article 30C provides for a correction mechanism if the Authority identifies that a determination or calculation made under article 26 (calculation of levelisation payments) or article 27 is later found to have been incorrect.

Article 30D provides for the treatment of late mutualisation payments, or late levelisation payments not triggering a mutualisation.

A new sub-paragraph is inserted in article 38 (amendments to Part 8 (Functions of the Secretary of State) of the Order) to require the Secretary of State to determine a range for mutualisation on an annual basis. This range is an upper and lower limit for the amount of unpaid periodic levelisation payments within which mutualisation is triggered. A new article 38A sets out the mutualisation trigger range for the FIT year in which 1st July 2013 falls.

An impact assessment has been prepared in respect of the changes to the FIT scheme effected by this Order and copies can be obtained from the Department of Energy and Climate Change, 3 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2AW.