Small scale solar panel subsidies cut by 64%

Updated

Subsidies for small scale solar panels on homes are to be cut by 64%, the Government has announced.

Reductions in payments under the "feed in tariff" scheme for energy generated by new small scale renewables are not as severe as originally proposed in the summer, when ministers floated an 87% cut for domestic solar electricity.

Domestic solar panels will receive 4.39p per kilowatt hour of renewable electricity generated, down 64% on the 12p they would have received from January, but more than the 1.63p originally proposed.

But in an initial reaction to the announcement, the solar industry, which had claimed the cuts would cause tens of thousands of job losses, warned that the news tariffs were not high enough and the Government must do more to boost solar power.

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