Delays to FIT changes 'would be catastrophic' - 01/12/2011
Individuals looking to switch energy suppliers to a firm that can offer them cheap electricity from renewable sources may have taken an interest in the appearance of energy minister Greg Marker at a parliamentary hearing this week.
He was appearing before a joint session of the Energy and Climate Change Committee and the Environmental Audit Committee to explain his department's decision to slash payments for Feed-in Tariffs (FITs) using solar energy by half, the Guardian reports.
Mr Barker said his only regret about the changes "was that we didn't do this earlier" and stated any suggestion of delaying the implementation of the scheme until next April would be "catastrophic".
He stated this is because there has already been a large rush to apply for the FIT scheme before December 12th - after which the reduced payments will apply - and had the government extended this deadline, it would not have been able to cope with the level of demand.
Previously, solar panel makers have warned the cuts to the subsidies would significantly harm their business, while Friends of the Earth has said it may mount a legal challenge against the new rules.
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