Jim Gillespie
Chief Executive
Institute of Domestic Energy Assessors
9 Nov 2011

I applaud FoE for taking a stand against this government.

Cameron's "greenest government ever" statement is now looking as ridiculous as Brown's "no more boom and bust". Speaking of which, that is exactly the phrase that Greg Barker used when he tried to justify this ill thought out, knee jerk revised feed in tariff reduction date. Little does he know that this is exactly what his annoucement has already caused. Consumers getting ripped off by unscrupulous solar companies inflating their prices for a "quick killing" whilst nationwide there are already shortages of inverters and roof mounting kits in particular. Solar companies are now working day and night to get installations completed and signed off before this ludicrous deadline and then what? By Xmas a large number of companies may well go into administration and tens of thousands of people joining the dole queue. Our country is tettering on the brink of a double dip recession and this "out of touch" government meddle with the only sector of our economy that was booming. Complete and utter madness.

The ramifications of this lunacy will be far reaching; in particular in relation to the much publicised "Green Deal". What right minded entreprenuer or business would want to commit any time, effort or money into Green Deal now when it is abundantly clear to everyone that we simply cannot rely or TRUST a single thing this government says or does anymore.

I was disappointed to read that the Solar Trade Association didn't hold out much hope of a successful legal challenge, but understand where they are coming from. The only way to successfully get a Judicial Review here is if we can prove that this action is in breach of primary legislation. I personally think the best hope we have of getting this decision reversed lies with the EU. When the previous Labour government signed the EU Directive for 20:20:20 they gave the EU a 10 year forecast of feed in tariff rates and predicted take up by both the domestic and commercial sector; to demonstrate their commitment to achieving our 15% target. I am led to believe that the Tories didn't consult with the EU either before springing this upon us and therefore the EU could argue that they have acted illegally too because they are altering the previous governments commitment to the EU directive without consulting the EU beforehand.

When Labour lost the last general election I thought then they would be in opposition for at least two terms of office; now I'm not so sure. I'm convinced that the Tories have now alienated themselves with the very people they have traditionally relied upon as voters. The elections next year will be very interesting indeed.

[Reply]

Photon
9 Nov 2011

Last Monday's announcement has already led to:
1 some installers closing to new business last Friday and encouraging consumers with installations booked for New Year to bring their date foreward
2 a mad scramble for available UK stock
3 one distributer reportedly increased price by 10% on day of announcement
4 less efficient/reliable panel stocks are being sold to meet demand
5 no guarantee that an installation order placed now will meet the Dec 12 deadline
6 The govt have maintained the FiT to April and produced a 2 tier system
In effect the Apr 2011 FiT ends on 12 Dec

In the interests of 'transparency' I hope Greg Barker will publish the cost
of producing elec / KwH from
a. single wind turbine
b nuclear power station
c gas powered station
d domestic roof PV installation
and the % of elec national elec consumption provided by domestic PV

[Reply]