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Government now plans to reduce feed-in tariffs from March

Simon Ward
by Lovemoney Staff Simon Ward on 20 January 2012  |  Comments 10 comments

New deadline for solar panel installation proposed after High Court rejected initial cut-off - but original date will go ahead if Government appeal is successful.

Government now plans to reduce feed-in tariffs from March

The Government has proposed a new date when it will reduce the amount people can earn from solar power feed-in tariffs (FiTs).

Under the new plans, homeowners must have had their installation approved by 2 March at the latest to be eligible to receive the current rate of 43.3p per kilowatt hour (p/kWh) of electricity generated. Otherwise, they will receive 21p p/kWH.

This new proposal follows a High Court ruling that the Government’s original plan to push through a deadline of 12 December for installations was “unlawful”. That ruling is currently being appealed by the Government. And the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC) says it intends to revert to the original December date if the appeal is successful.

In a statement, the DECC said: “It is very important that we reserve [the December deadline] as an option because these 43p payments will take a disproportionate share of the budget available for small-scale low-carbon technologies.

“We want instead to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available subsidy to pay a higher tariff to a smaller number of installations.”

The high take-up for the scheme and the falling cost of solar panels led to the Government introducing a deadline for installation. But its decision was challenged by Friends of the Earth and two solar firms as that installation deadline was before a consultation into the changes closed.

The appeal verdict is expected in the next few weeks and the results of the consultation by 9 February.

More: Free solar panels: The small print exposed | Gas and electricity price 'reductions' are phoney!

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Comments (10)

  • oldhenry
    Love rating 175
    oldhenry said

    The panels will be obsolete within five years or so and no doubt the 'ex double galzing conmen' will be round selling you the next generation panels wich are going to make you really rich.

    I would want panels taken off a roof before I bought the house as the maintenance costs are a total unknown as they have not be around long enough.I bet the brackets will rust and to expose these to english weather for 25 years without coming to harn is asking rather a lot. Just getting scaffolding up to clean them will costs £2K at today's prices. The idea was dreamed up by politicians desperate to be seen to be 'doing something' not caring who was going to pay for this . Teh only real benefit is to the Chinese ecconomy who make the panels. They are laughing at us as they use coal to make their electricty and the sulphourous fumes go straight up into the same atmosphere that we use, so you are being stuffed.

    Report on 22 January 2012  |  Love thisLove  1 love
  • deRANGEdROVER
    Love rating 10
    deRANGEdROVER said

    Just to reply to a few contributing to this Forum:

    AdAstra100: The Company I am buying the solar panels from gives me a no quibble replacement guarantee on performance at installation, year 10 and year 25. The performance factors I quote are from the Energy Saving Trust.

    huostonstewart: If I am not wrong that argument was used by folk when the first motor cars were seen on the road....On the Continent (swear word in somebody's dictionary) where solar panel are not subsidised, if one tries to sell a house without them they have to wait a very long time and accept a greatly reduced asking price.

    oldhenry: The frames holding the panels are in alluminium and the brackets are galvanized steel, they should last a few years even in Coast Towns, and good solar panels (not the ones made in China) are protected by sheets of self cleaning float glass, of course there is always the issue of a breakdown, but somebody show me something that is manmade that will last forever.....except supermarkets carrier bags.

    Report on 09 February 2012  |  Love thisLove  0 loves

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