HomeSun challenge Won
On 31st October 2010, the Government proposed changes to the Feed in Tariff subsidy for solar. We believed that the way changes were going to be introduced would cause unnecessary distress to people and industry. We tried talking to officials involved but no one would move. So we took a deep breath, and started a legal proceedings against the government. And we won the court case.
That was just before Christmas. HomeSun's barrister lead the case which we launched with Friends of the Earth and Solarcentury. The way that the Government proposed to handle the FIT change process was declared 'unlawful' in the High Court. The Government has appealed against the decision, and on 25th January 2012 lost their appeal.
Why did we take the action?
Taking the Government to court is a big thing. But we believed strongly that it was important to do - not only for our own business and the people we employ, but also on behalf of all those homeowners and groups who'd begun the process of solar investment and were going to be let down.
Solar is now a £1billion industry, employing almost 40,000 people and generating for Treasury (for our public services) over £270million per year. This success is partly down to the Feed-in Tariff (FiT) subsidy which was launched in April 2010 and which runs for 4 years. The purpose of the subsidy was to enable the solar industry to grow to scale, so that costs would come down and then, without a subsidy, it would be more easily affordable for homeowners.
The FiT was due to reduce in April 2012, and the industry had proposed a reduction of 30%. Suddenly on 31st October, government announced a 'consultation' running to 23rd December, and a proposed cut of 50% from 12th December 2011. This announcement created chaos: thousands of people trying to get installed when there weren't enough people or kits to do the job; thousands of businesses going to the wall because they had committed stock which wouldn't be arriving until 2012; thousands of people put on notice of losing their jobs.
The prime reason for the chaos was having a 'cut date' mid way through a consultation period, and that there was a serious undermining of the whole idea of 'consultation'. It is important to stand up for what you believe in ........... and so we took the big step of making a legal challenge to government. We did that first on our own, and then joined forces with Friends of the Earth and Solarcentury.
At the court announcement, Daniel Green, our CEO said
“The losers here are the big energy companies who don’t want to see homeowners producing their own energy but just want us to pay more and more to them; and also those who appear to be their allies, Chris Huhne and DECC. He has been caught with his hand on the steering wheel of this unlawful action, believing that he can push through legislation at any cost without due consultation and he should not be allowed to pass the blame.
“HomeSun will continue to work on behalf of the British public to free people from unfair and relentless energy price rises.
“This ruling is important not only for the solar industry but for all future government consultations. To have an ‘effective date’ in the middle of a consultation must never happen again because it makes a mockery of the very essence of what a consultation is. By finding this policy illegal, the Judicial Review has stopped a dangerous precedent being set.”
Thank you
Many of our customers have mailed and phoned us with messages of support. Thank you very much - it's kept us going. Thank you also to our staff who have been an amazing team throughout a challenging time, we have finally got the decision we have fought so hard for.
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