HC 1605 Energy and Climate Change and Environmental Audit CommitteesWritten evidence submitted by Simon Davidson

Summary

I agree that the FIT level is out of balance with the cost of PV installations and needs to be reduced.

The Government should have introduced gradual cuts over a period of time to the FIT to keep the return on investment at a level which encourages installation but provides value for money to those who are effectively paying for it. Effectively the Government’s handling of the feed in tariff has produced a boom and bust PV installation industry.

The announcement of the reduction was intentionally (in my view) leaked on the Energy Saving Trust’s web site prior to the official announcement. There are established and proper methods for Government announcements and think that the public at large are sick of this type of behavior by Government bodies.

The Government has introduced cuts to feed in tariff with insufficient notice. Installation companies have been forced to bring forward installations to meet the 12 December 2011 deadline, causing extreme supply difficulties, potential health and safety issues in rushing to meet that date and making life generally impossible for installation companies.

There Government has undermined consumer confidence in the FIT scheme with short notice and unannounced changes to the level of FIT payments. There is a serious risk that consumers will lose out if their installations are finished late.

The Government has announced a consultation period to assess the impact of these changes which take place on 12 December 2011. The consultation period ends on 31 December 2011. The implementation of the changes before the end of the consultation period makes a complete mockery of the process. In any case this not what one would expect to happen in a democracy and reminds one of the way that the former eastern bloc was governed.

5 November 2011