SWALE HEATING RESPONSE TO HIGH COURT RULING ON SOLAR TARIFF CUTS
Responding to a High Court ruling yesterday (21 Dec) that Government plans to rush through cuts to subsidies for solar panels on homes are legally flawed, Swale Heating has urged ministers to take this opportunity to “rethink their plans”.
The Government’s planned cuts to the Feed-in Tariff have been thrown into disarray by the High Court ruling to order a judicial review. It was made by Mr Justice Mitting following a two-day hearing. Environmental pressure group Friends of the Earth and two solar companies jointly launched an application for judicial review.
Kent-based Swale Heating says the early December deadline set by the Government fell 11 days before a consultation into feed-in tariffs ends and has already led to huge confusion and uncertainty for householders keen to take advantage of solar energy.
Matthew Edwards, Swale Heating’s sales director, said the cuts to solar power feed-in tariffs has also placed businesses who install the systems under enormous pressure.
The company, which is the largest independent heating installer in the South East, said a judicial review would now give the necessary breathing space to carry out a thorough review of the impact of cuts to the tariffs.
Matthew Edwards said: “The tariff changes were brought in virtually overnight and caused great disruption and now the Government has a second chance to rethink their plans.”
* Today (22 Dec) two parliamentary committees criticised ministers for their “clumsy” approach to changing subsidies on solar power. The Environmental Audit Committee and the Energy Climate Change Committee conclude that the Government is right to make changes but added: “The tariff changes have been rushed through, look panicky and it smacks of retrospective regulation which undermines confidence in the Government’s management of energy policies”.
