PV Tariff News

The Uk Government is proposing to reduce the Feed-in-Tariff (FITs) for new Solar PV installations as part of their comprehensive review consultation.

Therefore if you install a new Solar PV system to your property after December 12th 2011 you will receive the reduced rate of 21p/kWh for all installations of less than 4kW. This new tariff will be introduced from 1st April 2012 and will effect all installations completed on or after 12th December 2011.

Friends of the Earth, Homesun and Solarcentury appealed to the High Court over the Government’s handling of the feed-in tariff which ended in victory, as Mr Justice Mitting upheld the legal challenge, stating that it was “legally flawed”.

The court agreed that proposals to cut feed-in tariff payments for any solar scheme completed after December 12 - 11 days before the official consultation closed - were unlawful.

The judge’s ruling allows a judicial review to be enacted that could force the Government to relaunch its consultation on feed-in tariffs. The group’s lawyers have moved to remove the Government’s proposals to slash the feed-in tariff rate afforded to solar PV installations after December 12, which was slashed by more than 50 percent.

On January 13th 2012 this went to The Court Of Appeal where they were to decide whether to grant the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) a hearing for its appeal against the High Courts December ruling on Uk Solar Feed-in-Tariffs.

At 4.40pm on January 13th 2012 The Court of Appeal reserved judgment over the DECCs appeal against the High Courts decision on solar subsidies. The judges said that it would be optimistic to expect a judgment next week but they would do everything they could to get the judgment released by February 9th.

Click here to read the DECC's FIT Contingency Plan Q&A, in which they commit the 21p for any installation untill 1st April 2012, independant from what the judge decides. 

UPDATE: 23rd January 2012

The court of appeal is expected to deliver its verdict at 10.30am on Wednesday January 25th.

A spokesman for friends of the Earth commented, "Our Solicitors have been informed that a decision would be delivered next Wednesday (January 25). We have been told no further hearing will be heard."

BREAKING NEWS: DECC LOSE FEED IN TARIFF APPEAL 25th January 2012 10.45am

After deliberating since January 13, the Court of Appeal has today ruled that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) did indeed act unlawfully. As a result, DECC has lost its appeal, meaning the feed-in tariff will now go back to 43.3p for <4kW systems installed until March 3, 2012.

However, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said:

"The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court ruling on FITs albeit on different grounds. We disagree and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

“We have already put before Parliament changes to the regulations that will bring a 21p rate into effect from April for solar pv installations from 3 March to help reduce the pressure on the budget and provide as much certainty as we can for consumers and industry.

“We want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to half the number of installations. Solar PV can have strong and vibrant future in UK and we want a lasting FITs scheme to support that future and jobs in the industry.”

Written Ministerial Statement by Chris Huhne on Feed-in tariffs: 26th January 2012 

As the House will be aware, the Government’s proposed changes to the Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) scheme are the subject of a judicial review.  Specifically, the Government has been challenged regarding its proposal to apply new tariffs for solar photovoltaics (PV) from 1 April 2012 to all new installations with an eligibility date on or after an earlier “reference date”, which we proposed should be 12 December 2011.
 
Yesterday, the Court of Appeal handed down a negative judgment on the Government’s appeal against an earlier decision by the High Court. We respectfully disagree with the judgment and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. In the light of that, we cannot rule out the possibility that lower tariffs could be applied to installations which became eligible for FITs on or after the proposed reference date.  It is important that consumers are aware of this. 

The reason for appealing is that we want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget for FITs, rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to half the number of installations. Solar PV can have strong and vibrant future in UK and we want a lasting FITs scheme to support that future and jobs in the industry.

In the meantime, we want as far as possible to minimise the uncertainty for PV and other technologies eligible for support under FITs.  We are therefore still intending to publish the phase 2 consultation by 9 February. This will include proposed tariffs for other FITs technologies and a set of reform proposals for the scheme. We are also intending to publish the Government’s response to the other aspects of the phase 1 consultation that are not affected by the Judicial Review (namely the proposals on energy efficiency and for multi-installation tariff rates).