Supreme Court rejects governments appeal against the “unlawful” ruling on their untimely FiT cuts.

Great news for those who registered for the Feed in Tariff between December 2011 and March 2012! The ongoing legal battle has finally been resolved, with the Supreme Court today rejecting DECC’s appeal and upholding the ruling that the government department’s move to slash domestic Feed in Tariff rates in December was unlawful.

The solar industry has been labouring under uncertainty since DECC announced that domestic FiT rates would be cut from 43.3p to 21p, effective on 12 December 2011 – almost 2 weeks before the end of the consultation on the FiT. This move caused a group of solar companies and Friends of the Earth to take the government department to court, and though the cut was ruled unlawful, a legal wrangle ensued which has lasted almost 5 months.  Those who went ahead after the December “deadline” and before March 3rd 2012 – the earliest legal date that the subsidy could be cut – were effectively taking a gamble on the rate that they would finally receive.

Today’s ruling means that solar PV installations registered after the original December 12  deadline and before the March 3 contingency date now qualify for the original 43.3p per kWh tariff rate.

This should put huge smiles on some peoples faces, especially given that with the current level of panel prices, even the 21p tariff rate gives a healthy 8-10% return!

Find a brief guide to the new and upcoming changes to the Feed in Tariff, here.