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

1:30pm Friday 6th January 2012 in Altham Photograph of the Author 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.

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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.”

Comments (4)

8:52pm Fri 6 Jan 12

DaveBurnley says...

Most ordinary folk don't have the money to spare for solar panels, they are for people with £10,000 to lash out so they can get a subsidy from the government. Now it's been cut back and they are whining. One word ------ TOUGH,
Most ordinary folk don't have the money to spare for solar panels, they are for people with £10,000 to lash out so they can get a subsidy from the government. Now it's been cut back and they are whining. One word ------ TOUGH, DaveBurnley

9:19pm Fri 6 Jan 12

Michael@ClitheroeSince58 says...

DaveBurnley wrote:
Most ordinary folk don't have the money to spare for solar panels, they are for people with £10,000 to lash out so they can get a subsidy from the government. Now it's been cut back and they are whining. One word ------ TOUGH,
With respect David, Yes they are out of most peoples price range at the moment but as with any new technology people who can afford actually pay the development costs. After that once the investments are paid back the price can be lowered so Joe public has a chance to get involved then the price tumbles faster. This has worked with all high tech products for many years now.
[quote][p][bold]DaveBurnley[/bold] wrote: Most ordinary folk don't have the money to spare for solar panels, they are for people with £10,000 to lash out so they can get a subsidy from the government. Now it's been cut back and they are whining. One word ------ TOUGH,[/p][/quote]With respect David, Yes they are out of most peoples price range at the moment but as with any new technology people who can afford actually pay the development costs. After that once the investments are paid back the price can be lowered so Joe public has a chance to get involved then the price tumbles faster. This has worked with all high tech products for many years now. Michael@ClitheroeSince58

8:15am Sat 7 Jan 12

Kevin, Colne says...

Michael is spot-on. As a general rule new technology should be avoided initially because development costs are front-loaded and, of course, there may be problems with the technology.

Far better to wait while the prices fall and the reliability of the technology is proven.

If public subsidy is part of the equation then things may be different but as this story demonstrates governments often change the rules, and without any warning. The message to take from this is: never trust government.
Michael is spot-on. As a general rule new technology should be avoided initially because development costs are front-loaded and, of course, there may be problems with the technology. Far better to wait while the prices fall and the reliability of the technology is proven. If public subsidy is part of the equation then things may be different but as this story demonstrates governments often change the rules, and without any warning. The message to take from this is: never trust government. Kevin, Colne

7:34am Mon 9 Jan 12

maggie-T says...

It's a con and a tax, the fact is, these solar panels create very little electric, it's only worthwhile fitting them if the government subsidises them, that means paying you twice the cost of the electric you generate and feed back into the system, it's another job creation scheme by labour, if the electric company's pay this money back, guess where they make up the shortfall, by charging the rest of us more for our electric, another labour stealth tax
It's a con and a tax, the fact is, these solar panels create very little electric, it's only worthwhile fitting them if the government subsidises them, that means paying you twice the cost of the electric you generate and feed back into the system, it's another job creation scheme by labour, if the electric company's pay this money back, guess where they make up the shortfall, by charging the rest of us more for our electric, another labour stealth tax maggie-T

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