Government halves schools’ feed-in tariffs

Released 19/01/2012

Feed in Tariffs incentives cuts still to be agreed

FITs incentives on solar panels to be cut

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are proposing for Feed in Tariffs (FITs) incentives for solar panels to be halved, from March this year

If the proposal is successful, schools benefitting from FITs could see their incentives drop from 43p per kWh to 21p per kWh.

The cut-off date from which installations will be subject to the tariff changes remains undecided. The government wants those who installed solar panels from December last year onwards to be eligible, however this date has been challenged by judicial review, and the government must appeal against the High Court.

A written ministerial statement from Chris Huhne, Energy and Climate Change Secretary, released by the DECC today said: “We continue to stand by our original proposal” and that retaining the 43p tariff could create “substantial risks to the FITs budget if our appeal is unsuccessful.”

Huhne indicated that the aim of the cuts is to allow for a wider-spreading of the FITs budget. He said "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 DECC will suggest 3 March 2012 as a reviewed cut-off date (with tariffs changing from April) if the appeal against their proposed eligibility date is successful.

See more news stories like this