Just two days before the DECC was due to close its consultation on Feed-in Tariffs for solar PV, a High Court judge decided this week that its timetable was “legally flawed”.
This is because the proposed cuts to the tariffs came into effect on December 12, nearly two weeks before today’s consultation end date. A copy of the judgement is not yet publicly available, but it has been suggested that the judicial review ruling could force the government to delay its plans.
Although the government was refused leave to appeal, Greg Barker is quoted on the DECC website as saying “We will be seeking an appeal and hope to secure a hearing as soon as possible”.
Yesterday’s publication of a joint report by the Environmental Audit Committee and Energy and Climate Change Committee on the solar FITs review added to the criticism of DECC’s actions.
It says that ministers are right to make changes, but are doing so "clumsily”. The MPs said that setting a date for new installations to get the existing tariffs before the end of the consultation "smacks of retrospective regulation, which undermines confidence in the government's management of other energy policies".
What happens next and what this means for members with PV installed after the proposed 12th December deadline remains unclear.
Read the NFU’s response to the DECC consultation here.
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