Government loses Feed-in Tariff appeal bid

Published by Ross Macmillan for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Central Government, Local Government

The Government has lost its bid to overturn a High Court decision that ruled the way it had gone about cutting subsidies for solar panels was "legally flawed".

Last month the Department for Energy and Climate Change (DECC) was told that plans to cut subsidy rates from December 12 2011 - before a consultation on the cuts was over - was 'legally flawed'.

Today, the Court of Appeal (CoA) upheld the High Court's ruling.

Last week the Government said that if its bid to overturn the decision was unsuccessful then a new cut off date - the 3 March 2012 - will apply.

This means the planned 21p/kWh to come in from April 2012 - which will halve the rate of return for investors - will apply to new installations made on or after 3 March 2012.

A spokesperson for DECC confirmed the CoA had upheld the High Court ruling and that it was "considering its options".