Four Smart Export Guarantee licensees, Avro Energy, Pure Planet, Utility Point and People's Energy, exited the electricity market due to insolvency during the second year of the scheme, Ofgem has reported. The scheme year, referred to as SEG Y2, ran from 1 April 2021 to 31 March 20221.
Because those four suppliers were no longer trading, Ofgem did not receive a data submission from them and holds no information on their SEG tariffs or the installations registered with them1. Bulb also became insolvent during SEG Y2 but, Ofgem said, its size meant it was placed into a Special Administration Regime, so it continued to trade and is included in the report1.
"Four SEG licensees (Avro Energy, Pure Planet, Utility Point and People's Energy) exited the electricity market due to insolvency during the course of SEG Y2."
Across the year, 12 SEG licensees provided or offered support to generators under 36 tariffs. Of these, 11 were mandatory licensees with 35 tariffs between them, while the single voluntary licensee offered one tariff1. All but one tariff paid a fixed rate per unit exported; the exception was an Octopus tariff based on the wholesale price of electricity1.
A total of 34,020 installations were registered to a SEG tariff during 2021-22, with a combined total installed capacity of 155.8 MW. Payments totalling £1,664,969 were made, against 24.4 GWh of low carbon electricity exported. By the end of the reporting period, 28,100 installations had received payment for exported electricity1.
Solar photovoltaic made up 33,998 installations, or 99.9% of the total, and 99.7% of payments went to solar PV. The remaining registrations were four anaerobic digestion, five wind and 13 micro-combined heat and power installations, with no hydro. Those other technologies collectively exported 47 MWh1.
| Technology | Installations | Electricity exported | Payments |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solar PV | 33,998 | 24,363,845 kWh | £1,659,517 |
| Wind | 5 | 30,852 kWh | £3,274 |
| Anaerobic digestion | 4 | 3,624 kWh | £601 |
| Total | 33,999 | 24.4 GWh | £1,664,969 |
Ofgem's figures note that installations switching tariff during the year are double counted, because licensees supply anonymised data1.
Why it matters for households
The SEG is the mechanism that pays households and other small generators for electricity they export, and it is market-led: licensees set their own tariff rates and decide how their tariffs work, subject to a rate that must always be above 0p/kWh1.
Supplier failure is the practical risk for a household on an export tariff. When a licensee leaves the market, the report shows, its SEG data may not reach the regulator at all, and Ofgem states it does not hold a database of SEG installations1. The four failures in SEG Y2 sit alongside the wider pattern of energy supplier failures in the same period, and the arrangements that apply when a supplier stops trading are set out under supplier licensing and supplier failure.
For a home weighing up solar and export, the year's numbers give a sense of scale rather than a rate: 34,020 registrations, 155.8 MW of capacity and £1.67m paid out, with almost all of it going to solar PV1. Ofgem notes that 98.2% of installations had a capacity of 10 kW or less, and that £1,565,132 of the payments, 94.0%, went to solar PV installations in that range1.
What happens next
SEG licensees are required to submit data to Ofgem by 30 June after the end of the relevant SEG year1. The report does not set out any further dated steps.
Sources1 cited
- SEG 2021-22 Annual Report.pdf, ofgem.gov.uk