26 January 2012
  It was announced yesterday (25th January 2012) that the government has lost its appeal against the High Court’s ruling that the way in which Feed-in Tariff (FiT) cuts were introduced in December 2011 was “legally flawed”.
This decision means that the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) will be unable to implement their original date of 11th December 2011 for cutting FiT payments from 43.3 to 21 pence per kilowatt-hour.
It is now expected that DECC’s ‘Plan B’, announced last week, will take effect, meaning that the original tariff payments of 43.3 pence per kilowatt-hour will be available for any solar panels installed by 3rd March 2012… unless a further appeal is successful.
Yes, that’s right; the government isn't giving up. Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne has said that DECC is now seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
Mr Huhne said yesterday:
"The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court ruling on FITs albeit on different grounds. We disagree and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We have already put before Parliament changes to the regulations that will bring a 21p rate into effect from April for solar PV installations from 3rd March to help reduce the pressure on the budget and provide as much certainty as we can for consumers and industry.
“We want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to half the number of installations. Solar PV can have strong and vibrant future in UK and we want a lasting FITs scheme to support that future and jobs in the industry.”
We will be keeping you up-to-date on any further news regarding Feed-in Tariffs, and how your solar PV projects will be affected, so please keep checking the Latest News section for further updates.
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The fact that the government brought the reduced rates into effect on 11th December 2011 – before the consultation period had ended – led to the High Court ruling its actions “unlawful” in December 2011.
DECC then lodged grounds for appeal against this ruling, reasoning that the swift introduction of the reduced rates was essential because the high uptake of solar PV would have led to the spending cap for the FiTs scheme being breached much earlier than anticipated, leaving funds unavailable for other technologies.
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