MSE news: Government solar panel plans legally flawed

MSE_Jenny · 21 December 2011 at 6:31PM

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

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Government solar panel plans legally flawed

wymondham · 21 December 2011 at 7:19PM

does this mean that the 12 december deadline moves??

magyar · 21 December 2011 at 7:20PM

Whilst I support cutting the tariff level, this High Court judgement was so obviously going to go this way. To run a consultation and then announce a cut in the level of the tariff before the consultation has completed shows a level of idiocy I would have thought even politicians incapable of.

I don't support small solar, but to put people in a position where they have paid for panels which now get a lower subsidy level is completely wrong.

Of course, this could potentially open up the floodgates for claims that people cancelled panels on the basis of an unlawful announcement and now could lose out if they cannot re-order. Well done DECC for utterly screwing up as usual.

magyar · 21 December 2011 at 7:21PM

wymondham wrote: »

does this mean that the 12 december deadline moves??

Not in itself, no. But it will put huge pressure on the government to do so and will mean that they could potentially face claims from people who missed out, as well as companies for lost business.

rogerblack · 21 December 2011 at 7:36PM

If the government announces after the close of the consultation on Friday that the date of Dec 12 for cutoffs did not apply, and the new date is mid-January, as was initially announced, that leaves only a couple of weeks neglecting christmas and new-year.
Add to this the fact that it's now potentially snowy in some areas, which will make installing panels challenging, and the difficulty in turning a tap back on with regards to panels and equipment supply, the number of new possible installs may not be that large.

The doubling of the existing install-base in the 6 weeks before Dec 12 shows how foolish it would have been to do nothing, and change the rates in april.

Ectophile · 21 December 2011 at 8:34PM

rogerblack wrote: »

If the government announces after the close of the consultation on Friday that the date of Dec 12 for cutoffs did not apply, and the new date is mid-January, as was initially announced, that leaves only a couple of weeks neglecting christmas and new-year.
Add to this the fact that it's now potentially snowy in some areas, which will make installing panels challenging, and the difficulty in turning a tap back on with regards to panels and equipment supply, the number of new possible installs may not be that large.

The doubling of the existing install-base in the 6 weeks before Dec 12 shows how foolish it would have been to do nothing, and change the rates in april.

The only reason that there was a sudden rush at the beginning of December was that information had accidentally leaked out that the government was about to cut the tariff. It was supposed to have been fixed until March 2012.

I was going to get panels installed at the beginning of next year. When I heard about the change, I quickly phoned a local installation company. By employing extra labour, they managed to get the panels installed on the 8th December.

mo786uk · 21 December 2011 at 9:05PM

I supported the cut but I thought the way they did it was risky so this result is not surprising

The problem is that the damage has been done to the industry and I doubt it will recover.

Will be interesting to see wha the Govt does now though.

fizio · 22 December 2011 at 9:24AM

I'm just hoping this gives those of us with plans to install in the new year another shot at it - though more likely the goverment appeal etc will simply drag on and by then it will be tool late to install by march anyway..

rogerblack · 22 December 2011 at 9:40AM

An additional complication is that the governments consultation outlined an intended return rate of 5% - in well situated areas.
The 21p figure is well above this.

For a 4kWp install here in my bit of scotland, this would equal a system costing 15K. In cornwall, 16K.

HalloweenJack · 22 December 2011 at 10:43AM

except that wholesale prices have fallen 31% or more for equipment since march this year - so if your still being charged 15k for a 4kw system they are laughing all the way to the bank.

so , i have a question - given installations were peaking at over 100000 a month in november , and if its all `back on` - the money will run out mid feb - who then pays for it? i dont want my bill to increase 500% to pay for it when the money goes and the installations carry on.

greenhomecompany have allready lowered installation costs because of wholesale price decreases - its the greedy companies like homesun making all the noise when they are making even more money NOW than 2 months ago.

Cardew · 22 December 2011 at 10:49AM

HalloweenJack wrote: »

except that wholesale prices have fallen 31% or more for equipment since march this year - so if your still being charged 15k for a 4kw system they are laughing all the way to the bank.

so , i have a question - given installations were peaking at over 100000 a month in november , and if its all `back on` - the money will run out mid feb - who then pays for it? i dont want my bill to increase 500% to pay for it when the money goes and the installations carry on.

greenhomecompany have allready lowered installation costs because of wholesale price decreases - its the greedy companies like homesun making all the noise when they are making even more money NOW than 2 months ago.

My reading of post #9 was that the £15k in Scotland and £16k in Cornwall would be the theoretical cost to ensure a 5% return.

If you get the systems cheaper then the return is higher!

MSE news: Government solar panel plans legally flawed

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