Feed-in Tariff UK Changes 2025

Are you the owner of one of our 6,000+ installations that also gets paid a Feed-in Tariff?

Over 800,000+ domestic properties currently enjoy a Feed-in Tariff payment, which was a government subsidy scheme ran from 2010 - 2019 which helped to kick start the UK solar industry and improve the business case for solar PV when upfront costs were much higher than today.

If you receive Feed in Tariff payments for your solar panels, you may have heard about government proposals to change how FiT income rises with inflation. Many homeowners are understandably worried about whether their payments will fall. This guide explains what is being proposed, why it is happening, and what it could mean for you.

What is the Feed-in Tariff (FiT)

When sunlight shines on solar panels, electricity is generated. This power then runs to your distribution board to power on site loads which reduces the amount of energy your import from the grid via your electric meter.

The energy produced by the panels are tracked by a generation meter and for those on the FiT scheme they supply a quarterly reading to their FiT supplier based on what this meter says. This means for those on the FiT there are 3 benefits:

• You can use any power generated by the solar panels for your own home to reduce imported energy. This is still true for those without a FiT payment.
• A fixed payment of Xp/ kWh is paid for generating electricity, regardless of that power going to power your home or back to the grid each quarter. At its peak it was circa 55p / kWh.
• An assumed 50% deemed export rate is then paid, based on half of the generation reading for that quarter. This is normally much lower at broadly 5p / kWh, but was still paid at 50% even if a battery is installed to consume nearly all of the solar PV energy.
  
  Nowadays with a smart meter you can give up the deemed 50% export rate and instead get a measured export rate with the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) such as Octopus Outgoing at 15p / kWh Get a quote | Octopus Energy. You can also replace an older FiT system with new higher powered solar panels if you need more power, while keeping your existing FiT payments more about this here How to Upgrade a Feed in Tariff Solar System in 2025: Panels, Batteries and Keeping Your FiT Paymen…

The FiT is funded by the Government and paid by a FiT energy supplier, where the money is tax-free income and increased with the RPI rate of inflation. The money is ultimately recouped via a levy on all of our electric bills.

Why is the Government Reviewing FiT Payments

The Government is reviewing Feed in Tariff payments because they currently rise with RPI inflation, which is a higher measure than CPI. As a result, FiT costs have increased faster than expected, adding more to everyone’s energy bills through the levy that funds the scheme. The review aims to reduce future costs with two options that you can find explained below. The consultation is focused on ensuring the scheme remains affordable while still providing ongoing support to homeowners with existing solar installations.

What is changing

The government consultation is looking at two options:

The first: Feed-in Tariffs (FiT) scheme: indexation changes - GOV.UK  is to retrospectively change the payment rate that people were given when they signed up. FiT payments for generating are currently linked to the Retail Prices Index (RPI) rate of inflation; however the government want to change this to the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) which is typically lower.

The second: Changes to inflation indexation in the Feed-In Tariffs (FiT) scheme: consultation document (HTML) -… being considered is to freeze the FiT until a fixed date, to allow the CPI rate to catch up. Past FiT rates would be assessed and uprated in line with CPI, where the FiT would only rise until the CPI measure rises it beyond the current level (so there would effectively be no rises until the 2030s).

Why Many Think This Feels Unfair 

These FiT agreements were taken out with a 20- or 25-year guarantee, so it might feel unfair that the agreements are now changing after the agreements were long signed, and it might mean people will lose some trust in any future similar government schemes.

The government argues that using CPI will help reduce the cost of the scheme, reduces the burden of costs on all our energy bills and is a more widely used measure of inflation. It also says RPI can overestimate inflation which results in those signed up to the scheme being overpaid.

Get in touch

The consultation will close at 5pm on 12th December 2025. You can comment on the changes via the government consultation here Feed in Tariffs: Changes to Inflation Indexation - Department for Energy Security and Net Zero - Ci…, or email RO@energysecurity.gov.uk