Current Feed-in Tariff Levels Explained

07 Feb 2012

You could be forgiven for rather confused by the rather complex Feed-in Tariff situation at present, here’s my attempt at a straightforward explanation;

The High Court has ruled that Government plans to reduce the Feed-in Tariff on 12th December were unlawful and the Court of Appeal has since rejected an appeal from the Government to overturn this decision. As a final step, the Government are allowed to ask for permission for a further appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court although they are yet to do this. Thus legally, as it stands, the current Feed-in Tariff is still at the original rates (43.3p/kWh for domestic) but there is a statistical chance that DECC will be granted and then win an appeal at the Supreme Court, meaning the lower tariffs for all installations (21p/kWh for domestic) would apply from 12th December. Whatever happens, the Government have now passed new legislation that will reduce the Tariff to 21p/kWh from the 3rd March so to stand a chance of getting the higher rates, PV installations must be completed before this date.

For what it’s worth, the Engensa view is that the Government are aware that they are very unlikely to be granted another appeal and are deliberately stalling the process for as long as possible in the hope of limiting the numbers of installations as home owners seek to take advantage of unbeatable returns. The majority of our customers recognise that even at 21p it remains a fantastic investment and are willing to take a small risk on an unlikely Supreme Court verdict.

We are committed to keeping you as informed as possible on the Feed-in Tariff situation. If you have any questions whatsoever, please give us a call and we will do our best to answer them.