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Government loses feed-in tariff appeal

The government has lost its appeal over plans to cut subsidies for solar panels on homes.

There had been plans to halve the payments made to households with solar panels, as government said feed-in tariffs are unsustainably high level.

The High Court had ruled that changing the tariffs before a promised consultation period was unlawful, and the Supreme Court has now upheld this view.

Rhian Kelly, CBI Director for Business Environment policy, said: “What’s important now is that the Government learns the lessons from this sorry solar saga.

“As it puts the finishing touches to reforms to electricity markets and the Green Deal, it must be sure it creates a stable, predictable policy framework which leads to investor confidence and generates jobs.”

Friends of the Earth’s Executive Director Andy Atkins said: “This is the third court that’s ruled that botched Government solar plans are illegal - a landmark decision which will prevent Ministers causing industry chaos with similar subsidy cuts in future.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .