Government loses appeal bid against High Court solar FiT ruling
Green policy news – by GreenWise staff
25th January 2012
The Government has lost its appeal bid against a High Court ruling that its plans to cut the Feed-in Tariff for solar electricity were unlawful.
The judgement handed down this morning by the
Court of Appeal means the
Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will not be able to go ahead with its plans to cut the
FiT subsidy for
solar installations from December 12 2012 – leaving its
policy in tatters. Instead it will have to introduce a 'plan B’, which means the cuts will be eligible from March 3 2012.
The judgement will be welcomed by Friends of the Earth and the two solar companies – Solarcentury and Homesun – which won the High Court ruling in December that Government plans to slash payments for solar photovoltaic installations completed after December 12 2011 – 11 days before an official consultation into the proposal had closed – were unlawful.
The three Lords of Justices of Appeal announced their reserved judgement this morning following a hearing 10 days ago. It ends weeks of uncertainty for the solar industry, which has been reeling ever since Government plans to cut the tariff were announced at the end of October.
Solar firms were given just six weeks notice to prepare for the cuts, leading to fears of massive job cuts and business closures in the sector. Friends of Earth said DECC’s action had put 29,000 jobs at risk.
'Plan B'
DECC, which maintains the cuts are necessary to ensure the budget for the FiT is protected, has not ruled out taking further legal action. But it will now introduce its contingency plans announced last week.
The plans make legal provision to delay the eligibility date for a reduced FiT rate from on or after December 12 2011 to March 3 2012. The reduced FiT rate will apply from April 1 2012. The FiT is being reduced from 43 pence to 21 pence per kilowatt hours for solar PV installations up to four kilowatt in size.
For ruling text to today's verdict, please click here.
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