High court rules Feed-in Tariff consultation ‘legally flawed’

21 Dec 2011

Today the high court ruled that the Feed-in Tariff consultation is legally flawed, suddenly creating uncertainty over the the current Feed-in Tariff level. The Government has instantly appealed this decision, but if the ruling is upheld, then the cut-off date of 12th December for the Feed-in Tariff change could be postponed leaving a window open to still get the high residential FiT rate of 43p/kWh.

So what does this mean for you? Because of the appeal there is still uncertainty so we can’t guarantee that you would get 43p/kWh for the Feed-in Tariff however watch this space closely. As we have said, there is still a decent return even with the lower FiT rate of 21p and we are continuing to offer free solar installations (our SunRoof program) so it could be worth getting an installation soon and taking an ‘upside’ if the FiT does turn out to be 43p.

For the solar industry, the court ruling is not necessarily a good thing. Engensa has been closely involved in discussions with the Government and we are working to negotiate a framework for orderly decreases to Feed-in Tariffs in future. Worryingly, if more solar is installed at 43p then the budget could be massively overspent, restricting the options the Government has to support the industry in the future. Everyone agrees that 43p is now far too high, and any panels installed with this FiT would be getting a higher return than necessary. No-one in the industry wants to see a short-term return to 43p/kWh in place of a long term future – we need to cut a deal with the Government to safeguard the future of the industry.