Renewables Obligation: buy-out price and mutualisation threshold and ceilings 2025 to 2026
Reports, plans and updates
- Publication date
- Scheme name
- RO
Related links
The Renewables Obligation (RO) scheme encourages energy companies to use renewable energy sources. Electricity suppliers must present a specified number of Renewables Obligation Certificates (ROCs) per megawatt hour (MWh) of electricity supplied during each obligation period.
The buy-out price is the amount suppliers must pay for each ROC they do not present. Mutualisation is triggered when there’s a shortfall in the buy-out fund. Ofgem divides the shortfall amongst the remaining suppliers to cover the cost.
Buy-out price for 2025 to 2026
- £67.06 per ROC
Mutualisation threshold for 2025 to 2026
- England and Wales: £82.200,000
- Scotland: £8,200,000
Mutualisation ceiling for 2025 to 2026
- England and Wales: £404,010,856.41
- Scotland: £40,401,085.62
Mutualisation does not apply in Northern Ireland.
Definition and shortfall amount
You can find the definition and shortfall amount per obligation period for England and Wales in Article 72 (3) in the Renewables Obligation Order 2015 as amended by the Renewables Obligation (Amendment) Order 2021.
You can find the definition and shortfall amount per obligation period for Scotland in Article 48 (3) and Schedule 3 in The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Order 2009 as amended by The Renewables Obligation (Scotland) Amendment Order 2023.
Annual updates
We update the buy-out price and mutualisation ceilings annually to reflect the average monthly percentage change in the Retail Prices Index (RPI) during the previous calendar year. The average RPI percentage change during 2024 was 3.6% (source: Office for National Statistics).
We update the mutualisation thresholds annually based on the value of the scheme.