Customers of disruptor brand Social Energy have become the first green residential “prosumers” in Britain after they claimed certificates for power they produced from rooftop solar.
The small energy supplier has revealed it took part in an 18-month trial with Ofgem which saw customers claim renewable energy guarantees of origin (REGO) certificates for the power they produced.
According to Ofgem while consumers who have installed generation assets such as solar panels have been able to claim REGOs, such small generators were unaware of the scheme or did not wish to participate in it.
Typically the process to claim REGOs took between six weeks and three months for each generation site to complete, mainly due to the amount of paperwork and information required. Due to the complexity of the scheme customers found it near impossible to access it alone.
As such Social Energy proposed to the regulator it simplify the process by creating a one-click submission, where customers allowed the supplier to become their ‘REGO agent’ and do all the paperwork for them.
It also worked with Ofgem to bulk automate the vast majority of the paperwork and information gathering, partnering with companies like Flexi-Orb to provide a third-party verification mechanism for the regulator.
Social Energy serves 6,787 connected solar and battery virtual power plant (VPP) systems, of which 5,482 are also part of its energy supply business. The trial succeeded in generating 5,274 REGO certificates from its VPP customers.
Ben Gatley, managing director of Social Energy UK, explained: “The project first started because we wanted a way to engage with the accreditation process with bulk numbers rather than individual generators.
“An individual application, depending on site size and structure, requires the generator and Ofgem to work together, sometimes over extended timeframes to reach accreditation. We have now cut this down to a single click for our customers and Ofgem have simplified and automated their process for small-scale domestic generators.
“As a result, more than 30 per cent of our existing community has officially green generation and 100 per cent of new customers. We are looking forward to translating this pilot project into a long-term route of delivering our deep green proposition.”
Gareth John, deputy director of delivery and schemes at Ofgem, said: “Households who have installed solar panels or generate other forms of renewable electricity have been able to claim REGOs under the scheme, but we recognise such smaller generators were either unaware of the scheme or didn’t wish to participate in it.
“We were approached by Social Energy who wanted to trial a new approach making it easier for their customers to access the REGO scheme.
“We were happy to explore how this could be done and are now able to provide this streamlined facility to other suppliers, making it easier for households and other smaller generators to claim REGOs, helping them to contribute to – and benefit from – the UK’s renewable energy push.”
Social Energy recently announced the launch of a 20p/kWh export tariff, available to members of its VPP, with a secondary unlimited export rate of 6p/kWh after the initial 1,000kWh per annum capped rate, paying customers an average of £240 back on their annual bill.