Feed-in-Tariff Extension to 1st August 2012
A lot of uncertainty has sprung up around the Solar PV Feed-in-Tariff since the turn of the year. This centred around the government's initial intention to reduce the tariff from 43p to 21p on 12th December 2011. A move that was eventually overturned in court.Since 1st April 2012 the UK government have had their way and the basic tariff rate has been reduced to 21p per unit. Added to that is the condition that domestic properties must achieve at least a 'D' rating in an EPC assessment, or the rate falls to 9p! Luckily for Solar PV customers prices of Solar kits have come down considerably, to the point where the yearly returns as a percentage of investment are almost as good as they were before Christmas 2011. EPC D grades can be achieved quite easily, even in hard-to-treat homes.
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The initial intention was to reduce the tariff again on 1st of July 2012 in relation to the uptake of solar in the spring and early summer months. In simple terms, the more solar that is installed, the more the government have to pay out and so they intend to reduce the tariff in relation to the number of installations on a rolling basis. However, due to the confusion caused by the court case and feed-in-tariff reductions, the uptake has not been anywhere near even the lowest 'trigger' levels.
By law any announcement to change the tariff must be made at least 40 days before the date of change. This announcement date (20/5/2012) was missed by the government minister responsible, Mr Ed Davey. So the lifetime of the current tariff has today been extended until the 1st August 2012 when it will fall to 16p.
Whilst the opportunity to benefit from a balance of low prices and good returns is clearly limited, we have an extra month's grace to help more people gain from the current 21p tariff. Look out for our next blog post where we will compare the returns across both FiT rates.
How does this news affect you? Are you now in a position to invest in Solar? Let us know in the comment section below. Perhaps you'd like to learn more about Solar PV and the feed-in-tariff? If so then click the link to download our FREE ebook, An Introduction to Solar PV - before it's too late!
