Only three licensed electricity suppliers exited the market during Scheme Year 13 (SY13), the thirteenth year of the Feed-in Tariffs (FIT) scheme, which ran from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023. Ofgem's annual report on the scheme, published in December 2023, records that this was a fall from 27 exits in the previous scheme year, and attributes the reduction to increasing market stability1.
The FIT scheme pays accredited small-scale renewable generators for the electricity they generate and export. Ofgem has administered it since its introduction on 1 April 2010, and says the scheme closed to new applications from 1 April 2019, with all pathways for accreditation now closed1. As of February 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) assumed responsibility for FIT policy, taking over from BEIS1.
The report gives the following figures for the scheme year:
| Measure | SY13 figure |
|---|---|
| Supplier exits | 3 (down from 27 in SY12) |
| Total value of the scheme | £1.73 billion, up £157.7 million |
| Active accreditations | 870,063 |
| New installations registered | 245 |
| Renewable electricity generated | 8.9 TWh |
| Investigations closed | 28, three resulting in compliance action |
Ofgem states that net export payments were negative for the second time since the FIT launched, and that no levelisation payments were left unpaid, so mutualisation was not triggered in SY131. On compliance, the report says 28 investigations were closed, three of which resulted in compliance action, and that in one case sufficient evidence of fraud was found, with affected FIT licensees instructed to recoup payments and the installation's accreditation withdrawn1. In November 2022 Ofgem issued a Provisional Order to Delta Gas and Power Ltd1.
The report also records that 83 micro-CHP installations with a combined capacity of 89.1 kW became inactive during SY13 and will no longer be eligible for FIT payments1. The Feed-in Tariffs (Amendment) Order 2023 came into force on 1 April 2023, following a government consultation in March 2022 on removing green import exemptions for the scheme, and Ofgem updated its guidance for renewable installations on 3 April 20231.
"In SY13, due to increasing market stability this number reduced and only three suppliers exited."
Why it matters for households
Supplier exits matter to households because when a supplier stops trading, its customers are moved to a new supplier under the supplier of last resort process. Fewer exits mean fewer households moved without choosing to do so, and less disruption to whatever tariff or payment arrangement they held. The report does not give a breakdown of which suppliers left or how many customers were affected.
For homes with solar panels or other accredited generation installed before the 2019 closure, the FIT payments themselves continue under the scheme rules, but the report notes that installations reaching the end of their eligibility period stop being classified as active. The separate Smart Export Guarantee, which launched on 1 January 2020, is the route for newer installations, and what suppliers actually pay under such tariffs is set out in our guide to green energy tariffs. Households in Northern Ireland are outside the FIT scheme's England, Wales and Scotland coverage, as explained in our page on energy suppliers in Northern Ireland.
The £1.73 billion scheme value is recovered through levies on licensed suppliers, which ultimately sit within household bills. The report does not state what that means for an individual household's bill.
What happens next
The report sets out no further dated steps beyond the changes already in force: the Feed-in Tariffs (Amendment) Order 2023 took effect on 1 April 2023, and Ofgem's updated guidance was published on 3 April 20231. Ofgem says it will continue to monitor supplier and generator performance under the scheme1. No further supplier exit figures for the current scheme year have been reported.
Sources1 cited
- Feed-in Tariffs Annual Report Scheme Year 13.pdf, ofgem.gov.uk