Blog Post

Symbio ordered to pay £450,000 into Government Renewable Schemes

Richard Simmonds • Aug 18, 2021

Symbio Energy has been ordered by Ofgem to pay £450,000 in full into the government’s Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme.

What is the Feed-in Tariff (FIT) scheme?

The Feed-in Tariffs scheme was introduced by the government to promote the uptake of smaller-scale renewable and low carbon electricity generation.

Under their licencing conditions, a participating electricity supplier must make payments on both generation and export eligible from installations. The FIT levelisation process is spread across licensed energy suppliers and the cost is apportioned based on each supplier’s share of the UK electricity market.

Over the years several energy suppliers have struggled to pay the amount they owe with it being a key factor in many suppliers being forced to close.

The scheme was replaced in 2020 with the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG).

Also read: Feed-in Tariff Scheme (FiT) Criteria and Smart Export Guarantee (SEG)

Symbio in hot water

It’s not the first time Symbio has faced the ire of Ofgem regarding missed and late payments into environmental schemes.

In January this year, the company was investigated and ordered to pay out £100,000 for failure to make payments into the Feed-in-Tariff and Renewables Obligations schemes.

In this latest incident, Symbio has been found to have failed to make its Year 12 Quarter FIT payment by the deadline. Instead, the company told Ofgem that it will make the payment on September 3^rd, over three weeks late.

“This will delay the distribution of this money to generators and suppliers,” said Ofgem.

Also read: Ofgem opens investigation into Symbio Energy over late Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariff payments

Final Order

Ofgem is also consulting on a final order that will require Symbio to respond to a request for information on its cash flow forecasts.

Under the licencing rules, a supplier must provide information on their accounts and cash flow when asked by the energy regulator. The request comes after Symbio failed to hit renewables scheme payment deadlines on previous occasions.

This sort of request is common and routine for Ofgem to issue so all energy suppliers should be prepared to send them the required information as quickly as they are able. Failure to comply can result in punitive measures being taken by the regulator.

If Symbio fails to comply with the deadline set, it may end up with its licence being revoked and an investigation could be opened into the company’s non-compliance.

Also read: Symbio Energy receives warning from Trustpilot over ‘threatening’ response to negative reviews and Ofgem confirms £100,000 fine

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