While the cost of electricity has stabilised or even dropped recently, few businesses will see the impact on their bottom line.
This is because new statistics released by the government and Ofgem show a dramatic increase the number of renewables projects which are subsidised by Feed-in Tariff charges.
FiT charges are now added to all commercial electricity bills. The number of projects subsidised by FiT has increased from less than 50,000 in 2011 to almost 500,000 last year.
Mike Jones, MD at IEC, said: “The number of renewables projects now being subsidised by the Feed-in Tariff charges is astounding in comparison to just four years ago.
“Solar panels on domestic and commercial properties have accounted for much of the growth. We will perhaps see a slow-down in renewables projects now that there is less of a financial incentive available to generate electricity, but it will take time for businesses to see the impact on their energy bills.”
Feed-In Tariffs were introduced on 1 April 2010, designed to promote the uptake of a range of small-scale renewable and low-carbon electricity generation technologies.
The FiT scheme pays registered generators for every kilowatt of electricity produced and for any electricity exported to the grid. FiT accredited generators are registered with Ofgem by their energy supplier in order to receive generation and export payments.
