The Government’s Feed in Tariff for Solar Panel’s in the UK has been assisting British families who have taken loans out in order to pay for Solar Panels since 2010. The Feed in Tariff Scheme (FIT Scheme) is a scheme run by the government that pays UK energy consumers for the power they produce through using renewable technologies, which encourages households to move to renewable energy to power their homes.
The FIT Scheme allows householders to earn a fixed income for each unit (kilowatt hour / kWh) of electricity generated whether or not this is used by the householder, known as the Generation Tariff, and an additional income for the surplus energy not used by the householder and sent back to the grid, known as the and the Export Tariff.
Recent changes by the government will see cuts in the Generation Tariff for all new prospective solar panel buyers from 15 January 2016 from 12.47p to 4.39p, therefore taking around three times longer to recoup the money paid out on all new applications than previously under the old scheme. In addition, the amount of time after installation in which you can claim the Feed in Tariff is also to be cut; previously 25 years and reducing to 20 years, thereby shortening the period of benefit givenyou only make a profit once the system has paid for itself. The new cuts will only apply to new applications; therefore all previously on the FIT scheme will still receive what they were receiving prior to the cuts.
This new development is being criticised by many as it is evident that the government has to a certain extent shot itself in the foot. Of course the government will save money on all new applications; however in the long run this may prove to be detrimental. With the benefit being cut so drastically, there is a risk of renewable energy resources being looked upon less favourably.
There does however remain a benefit to investing in Solar Panel technology with the installation price slowly decreasing and energy bills increasing. In the long run the solar panels pay for themselves, albeit it may take longer.
If you would like more information on this please contact Terry Saffin on 01642 356567 or email tsaffin@jacksons-law.com.
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