December 12th marks the deadline when domestic solar photovoltaic installations must be completed if they are to receive a higher rate of subsidy under proposals issued by the government.
Installations completed by today will receive the feed in tariff at 43.3p per kilowatt hour for energy generated by the panels.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) announced a consultation on cutting the tariff payments on October 31st. The consultation is due to end on December 23rd, but the government decided to impose the cut-off point for installations 12 days before the consultation ends.
The proposals mean that most systems installed after today will receive the current 43p/kWh level of feed-in tariff payments until until April 1st, and will then be switched to a lower payment of 21p/kWh.
Since the announcement of the proposals, there have been numerous bids to change the government’s plans, including challenges from Friends of the Earth and solar panel manufacturers and installers, as well as the Local Government Association.
The government says that under its proposals social housing and local authority organisations can still claim a tariff which would provide a 5% rate of return on investment, which is what the feed in tariff scheme was originally designed to generate.
