In the face of Government cuts, Labour-run Exeter City Council, in partnership with E-On, is going ahead with a project to install solar panels across its housing stock. It has also called on the Government to reverse its decision to cut the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) for solar PV installations. The Government are planning to cut the tariff for installations with a capacity of 4KW or less by more than 50% from 43p/kWh to 21p/kWh. For multiple installations the rate falls to 16.8p/kWh.

The cuts were announced in the same week that Exeter City Council was preparing to announce an ambitious deal with E-On that would see our housing stock and the tenants therein benefit from solar installations, reducing their bills by an average of £190/year per household.  It was only by quick negotiations that the scheme was rescued.

Exeter City Council was able to go ahead but other local authorities with imminent plans to help their tenants out of fuel poverty have been forced to break their promises and cancel their schemes. These agreements included assistance to tenants whose homes were unsuitable for solar PV through reinvestment in energy-efficient measures.

The FiT scheme is a process used by over 40 countries around the world that pays people to generate electricity from solar photovoltaic [PV] panels funded by a small levy on all energy bills. The Feed-in Tariff certainly isn’t perfect, but it’s been incredibly successful at getting panels on roofs.

A suitable household in Exeter can produce 130% of its annual electricity needs through a domestic PV system. This clearly contributes substantially to helping the UK meet its renewable energy targets, as well as reducing carbon emissions and improving our national self-sufficiency.

It was always intended that Feed-in Tariffs would decrease as the cost of the technology falls and as solar’s share of total energy production grows. The legal framework set up by the previous government allowed for a gradual reduction of the tariff.

The solar industry had argued in the summer for a 25% cut in line with falling costs, and had been promised a full consultation. Expectations were for a full and proper Parliamentary consultation of at least the standard 12 weeks and Parliamentary process in March 2012. This current rushed consultation, which ends after the tariff is reduced, is not what the industry wanted or indeed was promised.

“Industry trust and confidence in the Government has evaporated”. Not the words of Friends of the Earth, but the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

There is no public expenditure involved in funding the scheme, which is funded by the energy companies. The cuts cannot contribute to reducing the public sector deficit. These rushed cuts will destroy one of the few growth industries we currently have in this country. The south west has one of the largest solar industries in the country. More than 380 companies are based in this region, and the region accounts for 20% of projects to date.

It will deprive the UK of a booming green industry that is driving jobs, growth and providing an environmentally sustainable and long-term alternative to other fossil-fuel dependent methods of electricity.

Over the weekend Caroline Flint, Labour’s Shadow Energy Secretary argued that history will record that Labour began this growth industry and the Tories will all but kill it off in its infancy if these mindless changes to the FiT scheme are not reversed.

The Government must act urgently to reverse these ill-thought-out cuts. A judicial review has now been called to look into the decision to cut the tariff; hopefully this will force the Government to reverse its decision and instigate a full review with the proper consultation period. It must ensure that local authorities, social housing providers, community groups and voluntary organisations are protected. And it must remedy its past actions and finally create the stability that this most innovative and necessary of industries needs.