UK solar subsidy to be cut

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Payments for home owners using solar panels to generate electricity are to be cut further, the government said on Thursday, which is set to be the hottest day of the year with widespread sunshine in the UK.

The feed-in tariff for solar photovoltaic panels fitted to existing homes will be cut by about a quarter, from 21p per kWh to 16p, and the length of payments reduced from 25 to 20 years. However, the Department of Energy and Climate Change said financial returns would still be around 6% for homeowners, down from the 7-10% when the scheme launched in 2010, as panel costs have fallen.

The changes take effect on 1 August, one month later than planned, after the government missed a legal deadline for making the changes on 1 July. Future tariff rates will also be assessed every three months and automatically cut or held depending on the number of panels installed in the last quarter, the government said.

The climate minister, Greg Barker, said: "The sector has been through a difficult time, adjusting to the reality of sharply falling costs, but the reforms we are introducing today provide a strong, sustainable foundation for growth for the solar sector. We can now look with confidence to a future for solar which will see it go from a small cottage industry, anticipated under the previous scheme, to playing a significant part in Britain's clean energy economy."

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/may/24/solar-power-subsidy-cut

[magic59]

1. Britain will never escape the Thatcher/Reaganomics disease

I guess they want to be slaves to fossil fuels. Too bad for them.

[dipsydoodle]

2. More here

A cut in the subsidies on offer to homeowners who install solar panels to generate electricity has been delayed by the government.

The feed-in tariff will fall to 16 pence per KW hour from 21p on 1 August, not on 1 July as previously announced. It will then fall every three months, depending on market conditions.

Tariffs are being cut to reflect the falling cost of solar panels.

Earlier this year, the tariff was reduced from 43p to 21p.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18192302

This is a further cut. The actual change for the time being is moving this forward by one month.

Selling/mis-selling was based on the recovery rate from the feedback tariffs. The main beneficiaries of solar panel sales here in the UK are the salesmen selling them.

Realistic OTE £65,000 per annum / c. $100,000. http://www.solareurope.co.uk/careers.aspx?gclid=CKyGyLn7mbACFQwjfAodpS6qZw

[Smilo]

3. You are right about the sales people benefitting

not just them, but those they report to.

My niece was selling solar for a while and making very good money - but her bosses were getting fat very quickly on what their sales force was doing.

The current government is cutting of its nose to spite its face - wonder who is behind lowering the tariff - coal, gas or petrol industry?

[dipsydoodle]

4. For the answer to how fat

multiply what your niece earned by the total number of people in the sales force. Thats a rough guide for any direct sales outfit.

[NickB79]

6. "Tariffs are being cut to reflect the falling cost of solar panels. "

So let me get this straight. We're facing a global energy crunch and warming climate in the coming years, and a clean energy source (solar) is now cheaper than ever. Soooooo, the logical thing to do would be:

A) buy as many solar panels as possible while they're cheap and reap long-term benefits for decades to come

B) cut spending now and save a few bucks in the short term but then face crippling energy and food costs in the future as fossil fuels run dry and climate change destroys cropland.

[LiberalLovinLug]

5. The oil companies need more time

All their gorging on profits from skyrocketing prices they charge needs to go on a little further before they've drained the last pools of oil and secondly have the capital to buy out all solar industries and wind industries and set up this new monopolized grid. This way they can smoothly transition to alternate energy with only a small speed bump...and continue on as the Overlords of Energy over planet Earth, without having to even change their CEOs and boards of directors.