The Sustainable Fuel Register (SFR), delivered by us (FEC Energy) and Crops for Energy, came into operation in February 2017 and is an industry-led register of non–wood based fuels and provides participants with a simple way of meeting sustainability criteria. Anyone using non-wood fuels in their RHI accredited boiler prior to this would have had only one option open to them, to demonstrate that their fuel fulfilled the Sustainability Criteria… Self-Reporting.

We were very much hoping that everyone who had previously self-reported would immediately sign up to SFR. However, it appears that some people are continuing to self-report on non-wood fuels even though SFR provides a much easier/better way of achieving sustainability compliance. This is probably a result of lack of awareness. Here are some good reasons why we think self-reporters should sign up:

1. When you register your fuel with SFR, you pay an application fee and once authorised your fuel will have a unique SFR number. This is non-transferable and therefore there is no way it can be used fraudulently by anyone else. All your SFR numbers will be stored on your system dashboard so you don’t have to worry about losing your records.
2. Our fee structure is reasonable and you know what you will be paying. A £200 annual fee covers 100 tonnes of fuel. Anything above this is £0.50 per tonne. You will pay the annual fee once a year and can register additional amounts as you need.
3. We offer a highly subsidised assisted application service, whilst the online form is straightforward to use and covers all of the components of sustainability reporting which can feel a bit daunting. With the assisted application, we do a lot of the legwork for you for a small fee. Once completed, if you are, for example, supplying straw from the same field every year and most of the information is identical, you will be able to clone your registration and add just the relevant bits. Simple as that.
4. If you are using a consultant to self-report or doing it yourself, you will need to produce a greenhouse gas (GHG) lifecycle analysis every quarter.
   
   1. If you are doing that, you need to make sure that the B2C2 tool is used properly and giving an accurate figure. If you are filling in the wrong bits or using estimated figures, you may find an Ofgem audit to be a lengthy procedure and expensive! There are 80 quarters in a 20-year RHI term, do you really want to have to go through 80 quarters worth of information?
   2. What, you’re not doing that? You’re simply submitting the same GHG figure every time, that really is an issue! It’s only a matter of time before that’s noticed and Ofgem will be turning up on your doorstep. You can take away this worry by using SFR, as we do the GHG analysis for you and as we get audited ourselves, we have to make sure the figures are accurate.
5. As a former self-supplier moving over to SFR, we will provide a FREE audit as part of the deal (minimum tonnage of 500 tonnes registered per annum). One of our representatives will visit your site and look over your procedures and fuel records. We will make recommendations on how to avoid common pitfalls and improve record keeping. This will mean you are more likely to sail through a full-scale Ofgem RHI audit.
6. We’re developing fuel recording spreadsheets with the intention to get these formally accepted by Ofgem, therefore ensuring everyone using the same fuel is recording the amount used in the same way. This will be good for you, good for SFR and great for Ofgem – a triple win.
7. As an SFR customer, you can call us for some free independent advice or you might just want to tell us about a new non-wood fuel that is suddenly all the rage.  We can provide you with some independent insight and put you on the rightful path.  
8. Although completely independent, we have the support of Ofgem and BEIS. Ofgem, in particular, would love to see more non-wood fuel users move to SFR as it would be less work for them dealing with self-reports.

There you go - lots of really good reasons why you should move from self-reporting to SFR. If you would like to discuss please give us a call on 024 7669 8919 or email [email protected].