New feed in tariff cuts of 87% may not be put into action until March 2016

The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) are yet to clarify when the changes to the feed in tariff will take effect.

This delay could see the change being extended until March 2016 giving the industry and investors extra time to benefit from the standard feed in tariff for a further three months.

Solar Power Portal have recently reported that the DECC received 55,000 responses following the announcement in August 2015 to cut the feed in tariff by 87%. 2500 of these responses are deemed to be 'detailed responses' and are still being sorted by the DECC despite them hoping to publish a response to the consultation before the end of the year.

The stand still period we have experienced between August and November has caused a great deal of confusion and frustration for businesses within the industry and investors. There is, however, clarification that as the change to the feed in tariff order has been received negatively the government must give 40 parliament days' notice before the new feed in tariff rates are put into action. Therefore, if the consultation were to respond this week the new feed in tariff rate would not come into effect until the end of February 2016/ beginning of March 2016 at the very earliest which potentially provides an additional 3 month grace period to install Solar PV panels on the existing tariff digression model.

The standard digression model automatically falls each quarter by 3.5% and this will still apply to all system sizes on 1st January 2016 pending new legislation.

Download the new feed in tariff rates for January 2016 here.

If you thought you had missed the opportunity to install Solar PV panels please contact the team at Discover Energy to discuss your Solar PV requirements.

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