Renewable Energy Installer September 2014 | Page 9

FiTness test
With Ofgem confi rming a 3.5 percent FiT reduction on December 31 2014, Jordan
Mawbey, marketing manager at EvoEnergy, tells PV installers how to make this
degression date less disruptive than those before it
G
iven the ‘boom and bust’ effects
experienced across the industry
after previous reductions, solar
fi rms could be forgiven for
fearing the worst.
Figures from previous years speak for
themselves. More than 32,500 installations
were recorded in the week before the July 01
2013 FiT change - then less than 4,000 the
week after.
The year before that, weekly installations
fell from 52,000 to 2,000 in two weeks over
the August FiT. And need I remind anyone
about March 2012; when sales dropped from
more than 120,000 to 5,000 week on week.
Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending
on your viewpoint) we won’t know the
statistical effects of the upcoming cut in
as much detail. The government no longer
makes weekly installation data like this
available.
And it would be unfair for me not to
mention that positive steps have been taken
to reduce the impact of each FiT - April 2014
was proof of this.
That said though, the industry cannot
rest easy. We cannot predict the future based
on past performance, but given previous
experience and the date chosen for the next
one, companies should take precautions now.
3.5 percent equates to roughly a £20
annual cut in return from an average 4kWp
domestic installation - not a dramatic amount
to take from annual average returns of around
£500.
PV will still make sense fi nancially in
2015, so incentivising installations this year
ahead of the change and causing a rush of
orders is no longer worthwhile.
However we all love a bargain, so
customers can still be expected to push for a
2014 installation wherever possible.
More people will want to get their orders
fi nished before Christmas, to avoid any festive
disruption. This could require installers to
work longer days and additional overtime at
a time of year when more staff are looking to
take time off.
Effective management of resources could
therefore make all the difference - handling
staff workloads upfront and preparing
additional support to deal with an infl ux of
orders.
The same can be said about structural
reports and EPC certifi cates. Planning team
resources, whether internal or outsourced,
will be essential.
Not to be overlooked, either, is the
planning that will be required to give
customers the time they need to register
their new systems and MCS certifi cates with
energy providers in the run up to Christmas -
ensuring they don’t miss the deadline.
The ‘Big Four’ and others could be
running skeleton crews during this period,
while posting paper copies of registrations
could prove a nightmare given the demands
already placed on Royal Mail.
As with all previous FiTs, any likely
peak in sales could be followed by a dip.
Coming this time in January - already one of
the slowest times for the industry - it could
prove quite the festive hangover unless
countermeasures are put in place.
Those businesses that do well will be
incentivising customers to choose January
installation dates, thus limiting any danger of
FiT-induced after effects.
And lastly, just as some of history’s
best laid military plans came unstuck by
the weather, so could this year’s FiT. The
unpredictability of the UK’s climate might
end up having the biggest impact of all.
Boom & bust: Incentivising customers to install
in January will help mitigate against the
logistical challenges of a peak in demand before
the FiT cut on December 31 and any associated
post sales slump, says Jordan Mawbey,
EvoEnergy
Planning team resources,
whether internal or
outsourced, will be
essential
www.renewableenergyinstaller.co.uk | 9