Implementing an exemption for energy intensive industries from the indirect costs of the RO and the FITs
A consultation on implementing an exemption for energy intensive industries from the indirect costs of the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs scheme.
In the Spending Review 2015 the Chancellor set out that “the government will provide an exemption for Energy Intensive Industries, including the steel industry, from the policy costs of the Renewables Obligation and Feed-in Tariffs, to ensure that they have long-term certainty and remain competitive.”
This consultation sets out how the government proposes to implement the exemption. In summary, we propose to:
- change each scheme so that a supplier’s market share does not include a certain portion of its supply to each (if any) of its eligible EII customers.
- make the RO and FIT scheme exemption available to the same EIIs that are eligible for the existing RO and FIT compensation scheme and CFD exemption.
- implement the exemption in relation to the FIT scheme in Great Britain and in relation to the RO in England and Wales. The Scottish government are consulting separately on proposals to implement the exemption in relation to the RO in Scotland.
Subject to stakeholders’ views, state aid approval and Parliamentary approval, if we decide to proceed with the proposals we intend to bring them into effect in April 2017. We will confirm the intended timetable in the government response to this consultation.