Government Solar Cuts Are 'illegal' Says High Court

Government plans to rush through cuts to solar tariff payments are "˜illegal', the High Court ruled today (Wednesday 21 December), following a legal challenge by Solarcentury, Friends of the Earth and HomeSun. Solarcentury argues that the Government needed go though the consultation process properly and only change tariffs at the end of the procedures laid down in statute.   Jeremy Leggett, Chairman, Solarcentury said: "We encourage the Secretary of State to accept the judges very clear ruling, not plunge the industry into a further period of uncertainty by considering going to appeal, and to conduct the reminder of the current consultation process properly with constructive conversations with the industry."

"Solarcentury is pleased with the decision, obviously.  The Court has stopped Government abusing its power but it doesn't make up for the fact that DECC has created chaos for the renewable energy industry as a whole, and not just solar. Solarcentury was very reluctant to take this legal challenge but DECC gave us no choice.  All of this could have been avoided if DECC had done a proper consultation last summer, as they promised, and engaged constructively with the solar industry. I do hope that DECC will now engage properly with the industry, so that together we can build a viable solar industry in the UK, as they have in Germany."

He added: "The whole point of Feed in Tariffs is to build the market.  It's like seed capital.  It's not a hand-out.  The support has to be clear, and it should step down gradually according to predictable rules.  That is the way to use this type of market support and build a viable market.  DECC already knows this and I hope they now understand that we cannot work in a market which is subject to whimsical and back dated decisions. We are still waiting for DECC to publish Phase 2 of the consultation about the management of the FITs scheme.  Let's hope DECC do not try and pull another stunt to ambush us yet again."

The Government's own independent advisors say the economy must be weaned off of increasingly expensive fossil fuels like gas by investing in clean energy and slashing energy waste.

Friends of the Earth's Final Demand campaign is urging the Government to launch an investigation into the role of the Big Six energy firms in stopping people in Britain having energy we can all afford.