MCS releases API ahead of official SEG launch

19 November 2019

On 10 June 2019 the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) laid legislation – the Smart Export Guarantee Order 2019 – and amended the electricity supply licence conditions to introduce the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG). This policy comes into force on 1 January 2020 and will ensure that any eligible small-scale low carbon generators will have access to a tariff for their exported electricity.

In a bid to help safeguard high standards in the industry, the Government confirmed MCS (or equivalent) as the route through which households can access the SEG. Installations up to and including 50kw in size will need to use MCS certified equipment, fitted by an MCS registered installer.

MCS already acts as an impartial third party, keeping a clear record of installations for government-backed initiatives including FiT and DRHI; and will go on to provide this service for SEG Generators and SEG Licensees.

They have today launched a newly developed Application Programming Interface (API) for the use of energy companies. The free, innovative API creates an link to the MCS Installation Database (MID) to determine if customers hold an MCS certificate for their installation. The MID holds over a million MCS certified installations.

The API has been developed with support and input from Bulb, the UK’s biggest green energy supplier, providing 100% renewable electricity and 10% green gas to more than 1,000,000 members across the UK.

Ian Rippin, CEO of MCS said, “We’ve invested in this innovation in a bid to create efficiencies for energy companies as they prepare for the launch of SEG. The requirement for MCS certification to qualify for this tariff is an important one for industry and this new API allows for much faster verification that a customer qualifies for SEG.”

In readiness for the rollout of the API, MCS has created a set of technical instructions: MCS SEG API Guide. To request a profile for testing or integrating the API please email the MCS Helpdesk, mcshelpdesk@mcscertified.com.