Feed in Tariff scheme an expensive distraction for an effective national energy policy

The Feed in Tariff rate of subsidy was unsustainable and it isn't going to solve the energy crisis, says Giles Chichester

It was inevitable that the Coalition Government would be forced to cut the Feed in Tariff (FiT) rate of subsidy. When the FiT scheme was launched by the Labour Government, the current ￡867m subsidy was deemed adequate according to Labour growth projections of installed solar power capacity.

However, these projections were totally inaccurate and, in fact, the actual solar capacity figure is now almost three times that projected, resulting in the subsidy level set by the Government being devoured at an unsustainable rate. Drastic action had to be taken if we were not to follow the failure of comparable FiT schemes in France and Spain whose demise was brought about by the availability of similar unrealistically generous government subsidies.

Despite protests from the environmental lobby, I am strongly of the view that this was an ill-thought and expensive green energy programme.

Those consumers who benefitted for the most part had cash available to purchase solar installations and rightly regarded the FiT as a good investment, giving a very high return on their money. Unfortunately, the burden of providing this financial return falls upon the vast majority of energy consumers who pay for the subsidy through the Renewable Obligation Tax on their domestic energy bills.

Now that the FiT subsidy has been halved, it will be interesting to see how many people will be adopting solar power and “going green” for the sake of the environment.

The FiT scheme has proved to be an expensive and unsustainable distraction from the need to develop an effective national energy policy. A prime task should be to endeavour to make our domestic, public and industrial buildings more energy efficient. We cannot afford to waste energy. Only when this is achieved should we encourage owners to tinker with subsidised solar, wind and other alternative energy systems.

We face an energy crisis that is not going to be resolved by what we put on our roofs.The green energy policies we inherited from the Labour Government must be radically reviewed and priority given to developing a sustainable power station network to serve the national grid. When we switch on the lights, we want them to stay on and not be dependent upon the vagaries of sun and wind. Being green at any price is not sustainable.

• Transition Newton Abbot calls for people to sign up to e-petition delaying change to Feed in Tariff.

(image: Some rights reserved by mattbuck4950)

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