Generation export tariff jargon buster
Proof of ownership
This is a paid in full invoice for your generation system; a letter from an installer or solicitor confirming ownership; or a Land Registry document. This must have your name and system address.
We require this to make sure you own the system that you’ll be receiving export payments for.
Proof of ID
Passport; driving licence; birth certificate; or firearms licence. This must be in date and state your full name.
Proof of address
Utility bill or energy statement dated from within the past 3 months; council tax bill, electoral registry entry of HMRC tax demand from within the past 12 months. This must have your name and address of the property where the generation system is located. (E.g. your home address if you have rooftop solar panels).
We need this so we can check you are linked to the property.
MCS certificate
The certificate from the Microgeneration Certification Scheme that is provided to you by your installer when they commission your generation system. The number on the document will look like: MCS-##########-A.
Ofgem advise that a system must have an MCS certificate to be eligible for export payments.
MPAN
Meter Point Administration Number – it’s like a serial number for your energy supply which is unique to your address. It’s 13 digits long and is different to your Account number. You can find it on your energy meter or listed on your bill.
DNO Notification (G98)
A G98 is certificate which should have been provided to your installer when they informed the Distribution Network Operator of your installation. This should have been done at the point of commissioning or shortly afterwards.
To raise an Export MPAN, the DNO needs to confirm your installation exists, so they know the potential amount of electricity coming back to the National Grid. Without this confirmation, the Export MPAN cannot be raised and we cannot set up your account to make Power for Good payments.
Feed-in Tariff (FIT)
This is an Ofgem scheme that pays those registered to it for the electricity they generate. The scheme closed to new applicants in 2019.
Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)
This Ofgem scheme launched in 2020 to replace FIT. It requires suppliers over a certain size to pay small-scale generators for excess low-carbon electricity which the generators export to the grid. Unlike the FIT scheme, it does not also pay generators for the electricity they generate and use. Whilst Power for Good is an export tariff, it does not fall under the SEG scheme.
Generation
Here, this refers to the total electricity produced by a small-scale renewable electricity installation, regardless of who ends up using that electricity.
Export
This is the electricity produced by a small-scale renewable electricity installation that is not used by the generator but is sent to the National Grid.
Deemed vs metered export
The FIT scheme pays generators once for all of the electricity that they generate and again for the electricity that they export to the grid. When the scheme was first set up, Ofgem had no way of knowing exactly how much was exported, so they estimated this to be 50% of total generation and paid customers accordingly. This is called deemed export. Now that customers have smart meters, Ofgem can use these to measure precisely how much electricity is exported and will pay customers only for this amount. This is called metered export.
SMETS1 and SMETS2
First generation (or SMETS1) smart meters were installed from around 2014 up until 2018. Issues were identified with them, such as them no longer transmitting readings automatically if a customer changed supplier. Good Energy decided not to roll them out to our customers for this reason.
Smart meters installed since 2018 should all be second generation (or SMETS2). These upgraded smart meters give customers the freedom to move between different suppliers without losing their smart functionality. This is they type of smart meter we install.
If you have an older SMETS1 meter, we may contact you about upgrading it or reconnecting it to the smart network.
Click here for guidance on how to read your SMETS1 or SMETS2 meter