Housing Energy Advisor.com Forum

[chrisso]

Great letter Robskizz - hope you and many others pile on the pressure, I have written to my MP who is Andy Burnham.

[robskiz66]

I have sent my response above to:

My local MP (Stephen Hammond, Conservative, Wimbledon)
Chris Huhne: chris@chrishuhne.org.uk, chris.huhne@decc.gsi.gov.uk
Gerorgy Barker: via his website and gregory.barker@decc.gsi.gov.uk
and DECC general email: correspondence@decc.gsi.gov.uk

Maybe others may want to do the same.

[Flamefix]

Excellent well done, It is good for everyone that the government hears from industry , installers and importantly customers.

I suspect there is a lot of political pressure from energy companies and the nuclear lobby behind some of this because by empowering customers reduces their power and earnings.

[robin brookes]

Very useful discussion thread. I have suspected this might happen, the deal is now too good, the economy is in a mess and I suspect the power companies are mounting pressure to radically reduce the FITS. I also suspected they would halve the tariff, which they have. Government promised the new rates by the summer and the longer we waited after parliament went into recess, the lower I suspected the new tariff would be.

I found the EST FIT review particularly interesting, did you note this: New domestic energy efficiency requirements - from 1 April 2012, domestic installations must be accompanied by an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) with a level C or above/which has completed all „Green Deal‟ measures. Where a domestic property does not meet these energy efficiency requirements, the Solar PV installation may receive a lower tariff.

Level C can be very difficult to achieve in older houses and this is going to be a further barrier to solar take-up. On the other hand, I have always believed it is more important to get the fabric right - insulation and air tightness - before putting in the fancy stuff. I had high hopes that 'Pay As You Save' would finance this side of things, but I do not have the same hopes of 'The Green Deal' even though in principle it is the same thing. The cap of £6,500 being the main problem.