Can the Government stop the FITS payments??

[Worcester]

There debate that I listened to and the articles that I've read are a bit vague, however I had a meeting with one very large City Council the other day that is looking to encourage thousands of people to take up PV and based on the due diligence that they had done (months plus negotiations with Govt Big Wigs) , they were pretty convinced that it can be. It will completely scupper their plans if it can't, and they have spend tens of thousands on pulling their plan together..

 

[Markc]

There debate that I listened to and the articles that I've read are a bit vague, however I had a meeting with one very large City Council the other day that is looking to encourage thousands of people to take up PV and based on the due diligence that they had done (months plus negotiations with Govt Big Wigs) , they were pretty convinced that it can be. It will completely scupper their plans if it can't, and they have spend tens of thousands on pulling their plan together..

It would be a kick in the shins for the PV industry if they didn't include it. But yet again unless you're a plumber these things really come our way. Boiler scrapage scheme...

 

[malcolmsanford]

I remember reading it on Yahoo, it was somehow linked to your utilities bill and the loan stayed with the house, typical Ive scoured Yahoo looking for this and cant find it, it was only this week as well.

I cant recall though seeing anything about PV to be honest

 

[SRE]

I'll be interested to see what happens - the local authorities aren't always that switched on - sorry for the pun. I worked in one for many years in the domestic energy field and they type of conversations that happen on this forum are way in advance of the awareness of the vast majority of the LA's I worked with. To give you an example I talked to someone recently who has a countywide remit for developing a fuel poverty strategy who thought that 14k was a ridiculous sum of money to pay for a 4kwp system and that he would be ripped off if he paid that. When I asked him how much he thought it should be the answer was 6k because some muppet in the industry who was trying to impress him had told him that was how much they should cost.

The point I'm trying to make is that he didn't know how wrong the suggested 6k was because he didn't have enough information. If you spoke to him without knowing anything about solar pv you wouldn't know that he didn't understand what he was talking about - he was very convincing - even though he was wrong. Of course some other authorities are leading the way and lets hope that pv is included in the green deal - but everyone I've spoken to at lots of different levels are saying it won't be in because it doesn't meet the golden rule of payback in 5 years.

I suspect it's going to be a watered down insulation scheme and nothing much more than that.

 

[Worcester]

There is no way that FITs will cost the end user / consumer what this will:
The Thanet wind farm will milk us of billions - Telegraph

FITs is pretty safe.

 

[topquark]

Chris Huhne has said he is unlikely to change tariffs retrospectively - that doesn't mean he or subsequent governments won't if pushed to do so - it's happened in other countries and it's not impossible that it won't happen here.

Notice the careful choice of weasel words! He can change it moving forwards though !

 

[TheMightyGusset]

Notice the careful choice of weasel words! He can change it moving forwards though !

Yes, and he will.
It's a given that as more people take up Solar PV then the FIT payments will reduce.
However, what will not happen is that folk who are already on the scheme will have their payments retrospectively reduced.
Those payments are guaranteed for the life of the contract.
Some people on here appear to be confusing one with the other.

 

[BruceB]

Yes, and he will.

Those payments are guaranteed for the life of the contract.

But what is that guarantee worth?
Governments are not bound by their predecessors and can effectively change anything they want and do so retrospectively.
Examples:
Windfall taxes on oil and banks.
Pensions due to increase at rpi, now only going to increase at cpi.

Regards
Bruce

 

[TedM]

Green Deal funding can be used for PV - it can be used for anything as long as it is leads to a reduction in energy bills which is required to fund it. This is called 'The Golden Rule' in the Green Deal as it is the core aspect.

FITs payments can go down as well as up. Read the small print in the suppliers' FITs contract. The contract is between the energy supplier and the owner. If the government change the rules then the suppliers can wriggle out of any commitment. It may never happen - but it could.

 

[SRE]

Ted - I thought the golden rule was a 5 year payback, has that changed? I haven't looked for the last few weeks and I know there's been some progress recently.

 

[SRE]

Energy Bill Second Reading - Department of Energy and Climate Change Looks as though work up to 10k will be allowed, although it doesn't specify which kind of work and I wonder if it might be restricted to solid wall insulation which has been a major issue in the energy efficiency industry for many years. 10k would buy some decent smaller kits but I'm thinking that the paperwork would be horrendous - I guess we'll have to wait and see. If it is included it will make retrospective changes highly unlikely which is better for us all.

 

[Echo]

The article Malcolm is referring to on the previous page can be read here;

Get £10,000 for making your home greener - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

 

[malcolmsanford]

The article Malcolm is referring to on the previous page can be read here;

Get £10,000 for making your home greener - Yahoo! UK & Ireland Finance

Thank you Echo that is the one and as I remember it seems to be for making the house more efficient rather than producing energy via PV or solar.

 

[nickblake]

they wont drop it but they will probably issue a wind and sun excise duty at 30p per kw you use doesnt matter which goverment is in they'll find away of bleeding you dry