FIT and FIP schemes: Levy unit price set at 3.98 yen, FY2025 total to reach 3.1 trillion yen
The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy (ANRE) of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) and announced on March 21 that the renewable energy surcharge to be added to electricity bills in FY2025 under the feed-in tariff (FIT) and feed-in premium (FIP) schemes for renewable energy will increase by 0.4 trillion yen from the previous year to a record high 3.1 trillion yen. The unit price of the levy will also increase, and will be set at 3.98 yen per IkWh, up 0.49 yen from the previous year.
When the estimated purchase cost of renewable energy, 4,854.0 billion yen, is subtracted from the estimated revenue from the sale of renewable electricity in the wholesale electricity market, 1,790.6 billion yen, the total amount of the renewable energy levy is 3,063.4 billion yen. The estimated wholesale electricity market price (average of past results) is 12.2 yen per kWh, which is 1 yen lower than the 13.2 yen per kWh in FY2024, leading to a decrease in sales revenue.
By adding the 1 billion yen administrative fee for the Organization for Cross-regional Coordination of Transmission Operators (OCCTO) to the total surcharge amount and dividing it by the estimated electricity sales volume of 770.8 billion kWh, the surcharge rate is set at 3.98 yen per kWh. For a typical household consuming 400 kWh per month, the monthly burden will increase by 196 yen year-on-year to 1,592 yen, while the annual burden will rise by 2,352 yen to 19,104 yen. The new rate will take effect from the May billing cycle.
In FY2012, when the FIT scheme was launched, the purchase price for commercial solar power generation was 40 yen per kWh, significantly higher than the current rate. The Agency for Natural Resources and Energy expects that the purchase cost will begin to decline after FY2032, when the 20-year purchase period comes to an end.