Government seeks permission to appeal to Supreme Court over FIT ruling

The Government has announced that it plans to take its case to the Supreme Court after the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling which found that plans to slash Feed-in-Tariff subsidies were “legally flawed.”

The Government announced plans to halve the tariff for schemes up to 4kW in size from 43.3p/kWh to 21p/kWh in December, 11 days before a consultation into the issue had ended prompting Friends of the Earth and solar companies Solarcentury and HomeSun to mount a legal challenge.

But when the High Court ruled against the Government the Department of Energy and Climate Change lodged grounds of appeal.

The Court of Appeal announced its findings yesterday and upheld the initial ruling but the government has now announced that it is seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court.

Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris 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.”

Friends of the Earth has urged Ministers to concentrate on safeguarding the industry rather than “wasting more time and money on further appeals”.