The Court of Appeal has upheld a High Court ruling that Government cuts to the Feed-in Tariff were unlawful.
The three Lords Justices of Appeal announced their reserved judgement this morning following a hearing 10 days ago.
Today's decision is a damaging blow to Ministers and officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, who must now introduce the contingency date of March 3 for the start of the 21p rate for solar PV and not the original December 12 deadline.
The court judgement also means customers who have had solar panels installed and are registered ahead of the new March 3 cut-off point will now receive the original 43p rate for 25 years.
Customers who register on or after March 3 will qualify for the current higher rate until April 1, when it will drop to 21p.
DECC was also ordered to pay the full costs of around £125,000 for the appeal hearing. In a Twitter message immediately after the ruling was handed down, Energy Minister Greg Barker, wrote: "Win, lose or draw today, important we move forward together, drive down costs + step up deployment." He later messaged: "Real stabilty will come from my FIT reforms, announcing Feb, not Courts, + def not 43p".
But within hours of the judgement, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne confirmed DECC would seek permission to appeal yet again to the Supreme Court.
The original legal challenge was made by Solarcentury, Friends of the Earth and HomeSun, and the High Court ruled on 21 December that a Government proposal to cut payments for any solar scheme completed after 12 December 2011 – 11 days before an official consultation into the proposal had even closed – was unlawful.
Jeremy Leggett, Chairman, Solarcentury said today: "A historic judgement has been made today, one that should be welcomed by the entire renewable energy industry.
"Renewables can only play the pivotal role necessary to deliver a new green economy, if we have a stable market and investor confidence backed by lawful, predictable and carefully considered policy.
"Today we have reminded Government that it will be held to account when it acts illegally and tries to push through unlawful policy changes. We would much prefer not to have taken this path but Ministers gave us no choice.
"Our hope now is that we can work together again to restore the thriving jobs rich solar sector that has been so badly undermined by Government actions since October."
Edward de la Billiere of Prospect Law, representing Solarcentury, said: “A unanimous ruling like this gives the legal certainty investors need before they invest in micro-renewables in the UK. It goes wider than the original challenge, about the 12 December deadline, and makes clear that DECC cannot retrospectively change the rate of the FIT for people who are locked into it.
"It should give great comfort to everyone from the domestic owner of a system to those investing indirectly in this sector and will I expect attract overseas money into this new and burgeoning industry. This judgment is solid enough to be a good day for business and for Britain’s green energy obligations.”
HomeSun CEO, Daniel Green, said: “Four Judges, including three in The Court of Appeal, have now called the Government’s actions illegal. That’s a 4-Nil victory and a decisive ruling that Government may not make retrospective changes to the FIT because, as Lord Justice Moses concludes, to do so ‘would be to take away an existing entitlement without statutory authority’.
“The Secretary of State has failed to have proper regard for the rights conferred by the FIT, which aims to encourage homeowners to generate their own energy. Like a Government bond, that rate is fixed depending on the date the installation becomes eligible and Government cannot change it as they choose.
“Both this appeal and the Judicial Review in The High Court would not have been required had DECC simply followed its own process and allowed the industry, that it claims to support, time to prepare for a lower Feed-in Tariff.
“Almost everybody except DECC have appreciated the potential and importance of the solar industry – from The National Trust, the Church of England through to the CBI as well as the British people. Surely this must be the point at which Chris Huhne stops taking the side of the big six energy companies and realize that solar is part of our future.”
On the next steps Government should take, HomeSun CEO, Daniel Green, said: “The Government must now move on and deliver a Feed in Tariff which is fair and not just for the rich. This means, dropping the so called ‘aggregator tariff’ which will discriminate again companies trying to provide free solar or low cost solar and punish private homeowners that don’t have £1000s in the bank. Solar should not be just for the rich.
“The big six energy providers have been shown in many surveys to be amongst the least favourite companies in the UK. The recent court case successes, in both The High Court and now The Court of Appeal, further demonstrate that HomeSun is prepared to stand up on behalf of the British public against unfair practices and relentless energy price rises even if it means taking them, or the government, on in court.”
Despite being refused leave to appeal further, Energy Secretary Chris Huhne later confirmed the Government will still seek permission to go the Supreme Court.
In a statement, Cabinet Minister Huhne said: "The Court of Appeal has upheld the High Court ruling on FITs albeit on different grounds. We disagree and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.
“We have already put before Parliament changes to the regulations that will bring a 21p rate into effect from April for solar pv installations from 3 March to help reduce the pressure on the budget and provide as much certainty as we can for consumers and industry.
“We want to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available money to pay a higher tariff to half the number of installations. Solar PV can have strong and vibrant future in UK and we want a lasting FITs scheme to support that future and jobs in the industry.”
The CBI today responded to the decision by the Court of Appeal to uphold an earlier ruling that the Government's change in policy on Feed-In Tariff (FIT) payments was ‘legally flawed’.
John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said the decision to appeal further was wrong and added: “The judgement should be used to draw a line under this saga, which saw the Government scoring a spectacular own goal and confidence in the renewables sector undermined.
“We must bring certainty back to this high growth sector. Looking to the future, the Government should guarantee the rate applicants will receive earlier in the process, for all the technologies covered by the feed-in-tariff, to give buyers the confidence to proceed.”
soni solar, west sussex around 3 weeks, 2 days ago