Ofgem has issued energy supplier Symbio Energy with a provisional order to pay around £450,000 to the feed-in tariff (FiT) scheme.
The order follows Symbio failing to make its year 12 quarter one FiT payment by the deadline, telling Ofgem it will pay on 3 September, over three weeks late.
The FiT scheme provides payments to owners of small-scale renewable energy generators and is funded through compulsory levies on suppliers. Symbio’s failure to pay on time will lead to a delay in the distribution of money to these generators, the regular said.
Ofgem is also currently consulting on a final order issued to the supplier to respond to a request for information on its cash flow forecasts. This followed Symbio failing to make previous deadlines for payment to government renewable schemes such as the Renewables Obligation (RO).
In January, Ofgem proposed a £100,000 fine for the company to send a “strong message” about late payments after it failed to meet both its RO and FiT payment deadlines, as well as the late payment deadline for the RO. Symbio Energy was one of three suppliers issued with a final order by Ofgem at the end of October 2020 following failure to pay £15 million in renewable scheme payments.
If Symbio now fails to comply with the provisional order to pay around £450,000, Ofgem could revoke its license and Ofgem may open a formal investigation into the potential non-compliance of the company, which could result in further penalty payments.
Symbio Energy had yet to respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.
