The Court of Appeal today said that the High Court’s ruling, that Decc’s attempt to cut the subsidies before the end of its consultation had been unlawful, must stand.
That means Decc will have to follow the contingency plan it laid before parliament last week to allow the full 43p/kWh for installations completed by 3 March.
While the feed in tariff scheme was designed to reduce subsidies as technology and installation costs fell, Decc has been widely criticised for not managing the process better. Before Christmas an influential group of MPs said the data on which the department based its decisions was out of date and recommended Decc urgently develop a system which allows for more regular and predictable reviews.
As the announcement was made, energy and climate change minister Greg Barker said via twitter that industry and government must now “move forward together, drive down costs and step up deployment”.
However, Decc later said in a statement it would seek to appeal the ruling in the Supreme Court (see comments below).