Generators of renewable electricity across NI have seen a huge jump in their rates bills this year.

Reports suggest non-domestic rates for small-scale wind turbines are typically up by over 60%, although there are cases of much higher increases.

One local farmer told the Irish Farmers Journal that the rates bill for his 150kW wind turbine has increased by 135%.

Another generator, who has several wind turbines located across NI, has seen rates bills for all his installations more than double.

“Rates on the smallest turbine was £2,000 and are now £5,000. The biggest one was £8,000 and is up to £24,000,” he said.

Anaerobic digestor (AD) plants have also been hit. An operator based in the northwest said his rates bill has jumped by over 50%, equating to an extra £11,000.

Recalculation

On enquiry, a Department of Finance spokesperson said the sharp increase is due to recalculating the rateable value of renewable installations and this is based on expected income.

“Electricity prices were at a high level at the valuation date in October 2021. As a result, the income projections used in the valuations were substantially higher than those used to establish the previous rateable values, which were based on a valuation date of 1 April 2018,” the spokesperson said.

On top of that, rateable values for some generators have moved above the threshold to qualify for small business rates relief, so they are no longer able to receive a reduction in their rates bill.

Aside from the NI-wide revaluations, all 11 local councils in NI have applied increases to rates for 2023/24 which has further added to bills.

“It’s double taxation. We are already paying income tax on ROCs (Renewable Obligation Certificates) and electricity sales, so why do we have to pay more rates too?” one wind turbine owner said.

“On one hand, the government is encouraging you to go renewable. On the other hand, they are clobbering you with more rates and taxes,” he added.

Renewable generators are querying the calculations used by the Department of Finance to calculate the revaluations for rates bills, particularly the electricity prices for October 2021 which have been used for estimating income.

“It was well into 2022 before electricity prices took off and most generators were locked into contracts at the time. They only saw the benefit of higher prices recently when new contracts were agreed,” a renewable operator said.