East Lancashire solar panel firm blasts Government for court appeal over payments (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire solar panel firm blasts Government for court appeal over payments

1:30pm Friday 6th January 2012 in Business By Chris Gee, Reporter

AN EAST Lancs renewable energy firm says the Government is ‘creating uncertainty’ by launching an appeal against a court ruling on cuts to solar power tariffs.

Energy Secretary Chris Huhne wants to reduce payments made to households and communities that generate electricity through solar panels, on any installations completed after December 12 last year.

Last month a judge ruled the minister was ‘proposing to make an unlawful decision’.

But climate change minister Greg Barker said the Government ‘disagreed’ with the court decision and added: “We will be seeking an appeal and hope to secure a hearing as soon as possible.”

Mat Pickup of Eco Solartech, which employs around 30 people at their base in Altham, said: “The Government does however need to consider how dedicated they are to pushing renewable energies, and how dependent they wish to be on unstable oil and gas sources.”

Eco Solartech’s installations increased three-fold in the months up to the deadline as people took the plunge to secure the higher rate of feed in tariff.

The ruling found illegal the move to have an ‘effective date’ of December 12 for the reductions, two weeks before the consultation officially ended on December 23.

This big push was evident nationally as solar installations for the week ending December 11 hit an all-time high of 29,880, with just 812 the week after.

Mr Pickup added: “To apply hefty feed-in tariff reductions now on a booming industry seems hasty to say the least, and now it has been ruled as questionable in law, they ought to thoroughly review the policy.”