Press release

We threaten Government with court over plans to slash solar subsidies

7 November 2011

The Government must alter its plans to slash financial incentives for households and communities that install solar electricity or face legal action, Friends of the Earth warned today.

The environmental campaigning charity has written to Climate Change Minister Greg Barker saying that unless the Government agrees to amend its proposals by 4pm on Friday 11 November, it will commence court proceedings.

The Government has said it plans to impose lower feed-in tariff payments - cash given to households generating green electricity through solar panels - on any installations completed after 12 December this year.

Friends of the Earth says this cut-off point, two weeks before the consultation ends, is unlawful and will lead to unfinished or planned projects being abandoned.

Friends of the Earth's Policy and Campaigns Director Craig Bennett said:

"The Government is breaking the law with its plans to fast-track a solar industry kill-off - as well as jeopardising thousands of jobs and countless clean energy projects across the country.

"Significant time and money has been invested planning solar schemes for homes, schools and libraries - giving them just six weeks to install is completely unacceptable, and schemes have already been scrapped.

"Ministers must amend their proposals and extend the deadline for solar tariff payments, or face a judicial review.

"With soaring fossil fuel bills and mounting anger about the Big Six energy firms, the Government should be encouraging people and communities to generate their own clean electricity - not destroying a new industry in its infancy."

Notes to editors

1. Last month we launched our Final Demand campaign for energy we can all afford and a public inquiry into the power and influence of the Big Six energy companies.
2. On Monday 31 October 2011 the Government launched a public consultation on plans to slash small-scale solar power subsidies by more than 50 per cent.
3. When the Government first announced that there would be a review of feed-in tariff payments for small scale solar schemes earlier this year, it said payments would remain unchanged until April 2012, unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency.
   Friends of the Earth says the Government's actions are unlawful because:
   • It will unfairly cause the abandonment of numerous planned solar schemes that would have been completed between 12 December and April 2012;
   • The wording used in the Government proposals indicates there is little prospect that Ministers will keep an open mind about representations made while the consultation period is ongoing - something they are legally obliged to do.
4. In its letter Friends of the Earth is calling on the Government to:
   • maintain existing tariff payments to all qualifying solar schemes completed by 1 April 2011
   • to extend the consultation period to Friday 17th February 2012, at the earliest.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust