UK: Consumers Urged to Install Solar Panels

Consumers urged to install solar panels before subsidies cut

Industry experts fear the government is about to at least halve feed-in tariff rates

25 October 2011 - Consumers have been warned to install solar panels as soon as possible, in anticipation of fierce subsidy cuts that will make them less financially attractive.

Industry experts fear the government is about to at least halve feed-in tariff (Fit) rates, threatening up to 25,000 solar jobs, after officials were surprised at the speed of take-up.

"If the government goes ahead with the reduction of the rates, it would mean those taking up the scheme in April 2012 will not receive as much money for their energy as those who signed up prior to the changes, so it really is important to start thinking about installing solar technology sooner rather than later," said Helen Booker, solar expert at Npower.

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Jeremy Leggett, founder of Solarcentury, said: "[This is] the ridiculous spectacle of a government destroying jobs it had only just created to save next to nothing, given the tax paid by those jobholders and the unemployment benefit avoided, merely to pander to a Daily Mail lie machine that has green measures detracting from the national economy rather than adding." He accused the nuclear and gas industries of conducting a propaganda war against green energy.

The widespread rumours of a shake-up are already having an impact. Empower Community, one of the first national-scale social enterprises seeking to use the Fits for community benefits – and to bring large-scale investment from pension funds into the energy sector – called a halt on its project in light of the rumours.

Daniel Green, of solar installer HomeSun, said the level of cut was crucial: "There have been price reductions in the solar market, and it is right that government reduces the tariff. A 25% reduction could be made to work, but anything more than that could be disastrous, placing jobs in jeopardy."

Howard Johns, the chairman of the Solar Trade Association, said: "Industry accepts there's a need to reduce the tariffs – we asked for that months ago. But to go for another knee-jerk fast-track review is highly damaging and puts at risk the 25,000 jobs that the UK solar industry has created. The high take-up of the Fits should be seen as a success story." read more>>>