After difficult negotiations with the energy regulator Ofgem about the suspension of their Feed In Tariff (FIT) payments, Pennine Community Power (PCP) has now had their FIT payments reinstated and backdated to when the suspension took place, in January 2013.
PCP has just been paid £5,432 for the period January to September 2013.
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Community groups are losing Feed In Tariff (FIT) payments for their renewable energy installations, such as solar PV and wind turbines, because they have received Big Lottery Fund (BLF) grants.
Earlier this year, Pennine Community Power were in this position with their wind turbine and had to repay £8,800 to BLF, out of a £30,000 grant, in order to have their FIT payments reinstated.
Community renewable energy projects in Calderdale, as well as scores of others across the country, have fallen foul of a little-known Ofgem rule. Introduced in 2011, it bars publicly grant-funded community renewables from receiving Feed In Tariff (FIT) payments for the electricity that they generate.
Affected community renewable schemes only found out about the rule earlier this year. when their FIT payments stopped and they heard that Ofgem would only reinstate them on repayment of an unspecified amount of their grants.
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