“3.56 …Some organisations have seen easy access to up-front, low-cost capital as essential to the uptake of the technologies; others are of the view that tariffs themselves will be sufficient to drive the financial market to develop products in this area and provide the necessary capital, and would be discouraged by government intervention in this area. 3.57 Therefore, we propose that central Government will not be looking to provide up-front capital schemes to finance FIT installations in the majority of cases…”
“Once an installation has been allocated a generation tariff, that tariff remains fixed (though will alter with inflation as above) for the life of that installation or the life of the tariff, whichever is the shorter.”
“But any individual installation, once starting to receive a tariff at a certain level, will continue to receive the same generation tariff level throughout its entire support period under the FIT scheme.”
“Several responses to the consultation argued that early degression would provide a disincentive for new businesses setting up. We have therefore decided that for these technologies subject to degression, its introduction will be delayed until April 2012, providing generators with tariffs at initial levels for two years. We believe this delayed start to degression will provide technology supply chain industries an indication of the costs reductions that will need to be achieved so that the tariffs can still deliver sufficient return to encourage investment from potential generators.”
“46. The background to the proposal in October 2011 was the defendant’s concern over the increasing cost of the FIT scheme as set out at paragraphs 23-26 of Consolidated Defence. The defendant made the proposal for the reasons set out in paragraphs 37-39 of the Consolidated Defence. The consultation was open-minded and genuine and the outcome was not predetermined… 50. The defendant knew that it was very likely that, and intended that, those operating businesses in the area of small-scale solar PV electricity generation, including businesses such as those operated by the claimants, would from the time the October 2011 Consultation was published, conduct their businesses on the assumption that the proposal would come into effect as set out in that Consultation. 51. The defendant knew that it was very likely that, and intended that, the publication of the Proposal would have an immediate effect on the actions of those involved in Solar PV installation such as the Claimants, in that the proposed tariff would be regarded by the vast majority of such businesses as economically unacceptable, with the consequence that they would be deterred from proceeding with Solar PV installations.”
“we recommend customers should use the figures in the consultation if they are planning to install after12 December 2011 .”
“No, I am afraid that would deliver the most terrible uncertainty to business. It has to be clear that there is a cut-off date. We mean what we say, I am afraid.”
“I am satisfied that it [the proposal] has had, in principle and in practice, a significant impact. In principle because it is converted the expectation of a prospective installer of a small solar system from a certainty that he will be paid at the current tariff for 25 years to a situation of uncertainty which he is likely to receive the current tariff for no more than a few months; and in practice because I accept that it has had a significant impact. Judicial review is available to challenge the proposal on the basis that it is a proposal to take an unlawful decision, in which category I include a decision which is unlawful either substantively or because it will, if taken, be taken in the manner which is not authorised by a statutory procedure.”
“40. The concept of a rate of payment fixed during the period of generation by reference to the date the installation became eligible for payment is fundamental to the Scheme. It provides an assurance as to the rate of return to an owner who has paid a capital sum prior to the installation coming into operation…The fixed return to the owner assured by the Scheme was rightly described by [Counsel for the claimants] as analogous to the fixed rate of return on a Government bond. 41…It is not possible to recognise in the Order or the Standard Licence conditions a scheme in which the tariffs may vary, without regard to the date when the installation became eligible and without any indication within the scheme of what amount the owner of the installation might receive, or as to how it is to be calculated. The scheme provides for a pre-determined rate, not such rate as from time to time may be determined. 42. That conclusion seems to me crucial to resolution of this appeal. Modification of the FIT Payment Rate, in respect of installations becoming eligible prior to the modification, would have a retrospective effect. Because the Scheme fixes a rate by reference to the year the installation becomes eligible, reduction of that rate (apart from fluctuations in RPI) would have a retrospective effect…Any modification of the rate, apart from fluctuations due to RPI, takes away the owner’s entitlement under the Scheme to payment at that fixed and pre-determined rate. The Secretary of State appeared to contend to the contrary, submitting that any changes to the rate would not have any retrospective effect. I would reject that submission. 43. I have concluded that the delegated legislation proposed in the consultation of31 October 2011 would have retrospective effect in respect of any installation becoming eligible for payment prior to the modification coming into effect, as proposed on1 April 2012 . Such legislation would only be valid if the empowering provision contained in s.41 of the 2008 Act authorises such an effect… 50…Whilst it is true that the section [Section 41] contemplates provision specifying how a payment is to be calculated, that it may be decreased and that provision may be made as to the circumstances in which no payment or reduced payment may be made, it is notable that Section 41 makes no reference whatever to the power to decrease the rate of return, other than in accordance with a formula. 51. It is not impossible but it would be curious to contemplate a statutory provision which envisages a scheme for financial incentives to capital investment to encourage small-scale electricity generation in which the return could be varied once the capital expenditure had been incurred. It is in that context that the presumption against retrospective operation is so important… 52. In those circumstances, I conclude that there was no power contained within Section 41 to introduce a modification which reduced a rate fixed by reference to an installation becoming eligible prior to the modification. To do so would be to take away an existing entitlement without statutory authority.”
“52. The matters referred to above had an immediate and serious adverse impact on the claimants’ business, which impact was reasonably foreseeable. It was not economically viable for the claimants to continue their business in relation to the installation of solar PV systems, unless such systems could be installed and commissioned by the reference date of12 December 2011 , which was six weeks from the publication of the proposal; and that the majority of installations which had been planned and contracted for by the claimants could not be completed and accredited in this timeframe. 53. The nature of the impact upon the Breyer claimants and the question of the viability of their businesses are as described in paragraphs 155-185, 189-211, 220-225, 227-228, and 230-242 of and in the Schedule of Loss to the Consolidated Particulars of Claim. In the HomeSun action these matters are as described in paragraphs 47 and 52 of the Particulars of Claim. In the FPFS [action] these matters are as described in paragraphs 43 and 47, and likewise paragraphs 47 and 51 for Touch Solar.”
“48. The Strasbourg jurisprudence establishes that the mere fact that rights are contractual does not disqualify them from counting as property or possessions…But the converse: viz. that all contractual rights are property or possessions, does not follow. Mr Rabinder Singh QC accepted that the logic of his argument entailed that conclusion. 49. As Mr Rabinder Singh QC pointed out, a claim may count as a possession even though no court has yet adjudicated on its validity. But a claim justiciable in domestic law can amount to a possession for the purposes of A1 P1 only if it is sufficiently established to be enforceable. By contrast, a claim may amount to an assignable chose in action in domestic law, even if it is not established. Indeed it may be a speculative claim, but it would still be classified, domestically, as a chose in action. In my judgment this demonstrates that there is no necessary coincidence between the autonomous Convention concept of property or possessions and the domestic concept of property… 58. In the present case, Dr Murungaru’s contractual rights have none of the indicia of possessions. They are intangible; they are not assignable; they are not even transmissible; they are not realisable and they have no present economic value. They cannot realistically be described as an “asset”
“In the instant case, the contracts with the registration authority gave the applicant company, in exchange for paying the domain fees, an open-ended right to use or transfer the domains registered in its name. As a consequence, the applicant could offer to all internet users entering the domain name in question, for example, advertisements, information or services, possibly in exchange for money, or could sell the right to use the domain to a third party. The exclusive right to use the domains in question thus had an economic value. Having regard to the above criteria, this right therefore constituted a “possession”, which the court decisions prohibiting the use of the domains interfered with.”
“There is no Convention right to continue to enjoy a particular level of trade. There is no Convention right to retain one’s job beyond the ‘right to a job’ which is recognised by domestic law. The Convention does not guarantee the right to acquire property: see J A Pye (Oxford) Ltd v United Kingdom (App no 44302/02) (unreported)30 August 2007 , [2007] 41 EG 200, para 61. All sorts of laws may reduce demand for particular services and thus affect the profits of the self-employed or the job security of employed people. They do not in my view usually have to be justified under article 1 of the protocol no 1, although that should not be difficult.”
“The Court recalls its case-law that goodwill may be an element in the valuation of a professional practice, but that future income itself is only a ‘possession’ once it has been earned, or an enforceable claim to it exists (Edgar)…The Court considers that the same must apply in the case of a business engaged in commerce. In the present case, the applicants refer to the value of their businesses based upon the means of earning an income from those businesses as ‘goodwill’. The Court considers that the applicants are complaining in substance of loss of future income in addition to loss of goodwill and a diminution in value of their assets. It concludes that the element of the complaint which is based upon the diminution in value of the business assessed by reference to future income, and which amounts in effect to a claim for loss of future income, falls outside the scope of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1.”
“Where an applicant refers to the value of his business based upon the profits generated by the business, or the means of earning an income from the business, as ‘goodwill’, the Court has indicated that this reference is to be understood as a complaint in substance of loss of future income. The Court has previously found that this element of the complaint falls outside the scope of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1…”
“The right relied upon by the applicants may be likened to the right of property embodied in Article 1 (P1-1): by dint of their own work, the applicants had built up a clientèle; this had in many respects the nature of a private right and constituted an asset and, hence, a possession within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 1 (P1-1). This provision was accordingly applicable in the present case.”
“It is the benefit and advantage of the good name, reputation, and connection of a business. It is the attractive force which brings in custom. It is the one thing which distinguishes an old-established business from a new business at its first start. The goodwill of a business must emanate from a particular centre or source. However widely extended or diffused its influence may be, goodwill is worth nothing unless it has power of attraction sufficient to bring customers home to the source from which it emanates. Goodwill is composed of a variety of elements. It differs in its composition in different trades and in different businesses in the same trade…The goodwill of a business is one whole, and in a case like this it must be dealt with as such.”
“…being used rather in the economic sense of the capitalised value of a business or part of a business as a going concern which, according to modern theory of corporate finance, is best understood as the expected free future cash flows of the business discounted to a present value at an appropriate after tax weighted average cost of funds… 73 The business has a capital value or goodwill only if the entity can be, and is, organised in a way that allows future cash flows to be capitalised…The distinction between the situations seems to me to rest largely, if not wholly, on organisational factors. Nonetheless, it is clear on Strasbourg jurisprudence, now confirmed by high domestic authority, that Article 1 of the First Protocol protects only ‘goodwill’, as a form of asset with a monetary value, and does not protect an expected stream of future income which, for mainly organisational reasons, cannot be or is not capitalised. In other words, the Convention, differing perhaps in this respect from the law of the European Union, protects assets which have a monetary value, not economic interests as such.”
“29. In summary on the issues of goodwill and legitimate expectation, there is clear Strasbourg authority, in Wendenburg and other cases, and domestic authority, in Countryside, that the assets of a business may include possessions for the purpose of Article 1 in the form of ‘clientele’or goodwill of the business…But where it does not exist, as it does not here, the Court of Appeal's decision in Countryside upholding the reasoning of the Divisional Court is also clear authority for the proposition that, without it, mere prospective loss of future income cannot amount to a possession for the purpose. Equally, any consideration of a further category of Article 1 possession based on a notion of legitimate expectation in this context would unacceptably blur that distinction of principle. It would also, as I have indicated, lead to great difficulties of practical application in the next stages of the Article 1 exercise of identifying precisely what legitimately expected ‘possession’ had been interfered with and to what extent, and in considering the ‘legitimacy’ of the expectation against considerations of the general interest on the issue of justification.”
“I agree with Auld LJ that there is no intermediate ground between a vested possession and future income, whether described in terms of livelihood or glossed in terms of legitimate expectation.”
“35. (c) An applicant can allege a violation of Art.1 of Protocol No.1 only in so far as the impugned decisions related to his ‘possessions’ within the meaning of this provision. ‘Possessions’ can be either ‘existing possessions’ or assets, including claims, in respect of which the applicant can argue that he or she has at least a ‘legitimate expectation’ of obtaining effective enjoyment of a property right. By way of contrast, the hope of recognition of a property right which it has been impossible to exercise effectively cannot be considered a ‘possession’ within the meaning of Article 1 of Protocol No.1 , nor can a conditional claim which lapses as a result of the non-fulfilment of the condition.”
“The Court [in Pressos] did not expressly state that the ‘legitimate expectation’ was a component of, or attached to, a property right as it had done in Pine Valley Developments Ltd v Ireland[1992] 14 EHRR 319 and was to do in Stretch v United Kingdom[2004] 38 EHRR 12 . It was however implicit that no such expectation could come into play in the absence of an ‘asset’ falling within the ambit of Article 1 of Protocol No.1, in this instance the claim in tort. The ‘legitimate expectation’ identified in Pressos Companía Naviera SA was not in itself constitutive of a proprietary interest; it related to the way in which the claim qualifying as an ‘asset’ would be treated under domestic law and in particular to reliance on the fact that the established case law of the national courts would continue to be applied in respect of damage which had already occurred. 49…There was a difference, so the Court held, between a mere hope of restitution, however understandable that hope may be, and a ‘legitimate expectation’, which must be of a nature more concrete than a mere hope and be based on a legal provision or a legal act such as a judicial decision. (See Gratzinger and Gratzingerova v Czech Republic (Application No. 39794/98)).”
“It seems to me that it is strongly arguable that, if a relevant possession had been involved, then there would only have been an interference for the purposes of Article 1 First Protocol if there had been material economic consequences:”
“32. The true principle is set out in the judgment of Carnwath LJ in R (Shrewsbury and Atcham Borough Council v Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government[2008] EWCA Civ. 148 at paragraph 33: ‘33. Judicial review proceedings may come after the substantive event, with a view to having it set aside or ‘quashed’; or in advance, when it is threatened or in preparation, with a view to having it stayed or ‘prohibited. In the latter case, the immediate challenge may be directed at decisions or action which are no more than steps on the way to the substantive event.’ 33. It is not necessary for me to determine whether the impact of the making of the proposal [of31 October 2011 ] has been as great as that contented for by the claimants or whether, as Mr Nicholls submits, the greater impact has been produced by long-term proposals. I am satisfied that it has had, in principle and in practice, a significant impact. In principle because it has converted the expectation of a prospective installer of a small solar system from a certainty that he will be paid at the current tariff for 25 years to a situation of uncertainty in which he is likely to receive the current tariff for no more than a few months; and in practice because I accept that it has had a significant impact. Judicial review is available to challenge the proposal on the basis that it is a proposal to take an unlawful decision, in which category I include a decision which is unlawful either substantively or because it will, if taken, be taken in a manner that is not authorised by a statutory procedure.”
“64. The Commission has also examined the Government’s argument that in the absence of enforceable administrative decisions the company’s property rights remain intact and that, therefore, no interference with such rights can be established. It finds that, in the present case, the repeated declarations of officials of the administration that the Municipality of Athens will acquire the company’s land and, above all, the placement and maintenance of signposts indicting that the area would be expropriated even though they left intact in law the company’s property rights could in practice affect substantially the possibilities to exercise these rights. 65. Although the applicants have not proved that the devaluation of their shares was the direct result of the situation described above, it is, in the Commission’s view, established that these measures must have affected the company’s capacity to negotiate development projects for its properties. Notwithstanding the absence of formal expropriation proceedings until 1989 the impression was created that the Municipality of Athens would proceed to the expropriation whenever it found it expedient to do so. Therefore, the Commission finds that the situation created by the placement of the signposts and the repeated declarations of the Municipality’s intention to acquire the company’s land amounts to an interference with the applicants’ right to peaceful enjoyment of their possessions.”
“The direct cause of solar PV installations not being completed by 3.3.12 appears to have been the actions and commercial decisions of, variously, the Claimants, their customers, their potential customers, their contractors, their funders and/or (in relation to alleged supply or labour shortages or alleged increases in the cost of materials) the decisions or actions of other players in the solar PV market and supply chain, rather than anything done and/or proposed to be done by [the defendant].”
“40. The FIT Scheme was proposed by a Consultation in 2009 for the reasons and with the aims set out at paragraphs 18 and 19 of the Consolidated Defence. 41. Solar PV had traditionally had high installation and equipment costs compared to other low-carbon generation technologies (although those costs have fallen very sharply over recent years). For that reason the tariff level for solar PV was originally set at a higher level than for other technologies when the FIT Scheme was introduced in order to incentivize generators to overcome those higher installation costs. Solar PV was thus a relatively expensive way of generating low-carbon electricity. 42. Although under the FIT Scheme the payment to the FIT Generator is made by the electricity supplier, the cost of the FIT is passed on to all electricity consumers thereby raising prices for consumers - it is, therefore, a subsidy paid by consumers. The cost of the FIT Scheme is accordingly treated by HM Treasury as “imputed tax and spend” and the Defendant is concerned to keep the costs of the Scheme under control to ensure the impact on consumers is proportionate and reasonable. 43. The cost of the FIT Scheme was one of the matters addressed in the Spending Review initiated following the election in May 2010. The Spending Review announcement was made in October 2010, and provided that the cost of the FIT Scheme was to be reduced by 10% in 2014/15 (i.e. by£40 million ). 44. By its 2010 Response paper, the Defendant adopted an approach that it believed would provide the best overall balance between the FIT Scheme’s objectives and consideration of the Scheme’s costs, as set out in paragraph 20 of the Consolidated Defence. 45. Moreover, by the end of 2010 it was also considered by the Government to be necessary to ensure that the cost of the FIT Scheme for the period up to 2014/15 was maintained within the limit set in the Spending Review. 46. The background to the Proposal in October 2011 was the Defendant’s concern over the increasing cost of the FITs Scheme, as set out at paragraphs 23-26 of Consolidated Defence. The Defendant made the Proposal for the reasons set out in paragraphs 37 to 39 of the Consolidated Defence. The consultation was open-minded and genuine and the outcome was not predetermined. 47. When the FIT Scheme was made, the Defendant anticipated (from the projections used) that in the early years of the Scheme there would be a large number of small solar PV installations on buildings, but that no installations over 4kW would be accredited in the first three years of the scheme with only limited numbers of such installations being accredited in subsequent years. In fact, by December 2010, it was apparent that the FIT Scheme was producing results that had not been anticipated in April 2010. In particular, the following had occurred: (c) By December 2010 there were 208 new accredited installations greater than 4kW but less than 10kW, and 51 installations between 10 and 100 kW. Many more similar projects were pending of which two were above 50kW. (d) The greater than expected development of larger scale solar PV installations was due at least in part, to a greater than expected reduction in the costs of setting up such installations (at the time in the region of a 20-30% reduction since the beginning of 2010). (This reduction in the cost of solar PV has been a world-wide phenomenon and has led Germany, France, Spain, Italy and Belgium to reduce their feed-in tariffs for solar PV.) (e) One consequence of this was to increase the rate of return for such developments at the then-current tariff levels above the 5-8% rate of return (5% for solar PV) on which the FIT Scheme was based. (f) The increased number of solar PV projects raised the prospect that what the Defendant considered to be disproportionate amounts of funding could be taken by such schemes. 48. In relation to the ‘fast-track’ review referred to at paragraph 23 above, the Defendant was aware that some solar PV projects that were in the process of development or installation might not be commissioned before1 August 2011 , however the Defendant decided not to implement any transitional provisions. The Defendant also relies on the matters described in his consolidated Defence at paragraph 18-19, 23-26, 37-39 and 65-69 and the corresponding passages in DECC’s other Defences.”
“116. The Strasbourg court has often said that the first and most important requirement of A1P1 is that any interference by a public authority with the peaceful enjoyment of possessions should be lawful: see, for example, Iatridis v Greece[1999] 30 EHRR 97 , para 58. In this context, as elsewhere in the Convention, the concept of “law” does not merely require the existence of some domestic law, but requires it to be compatible with the rule of law: see e.g. James v United Kingdom,[1986] 8 EHRR 123 at para 67.”
“188. However, the court has already held underArticle 10 of the Convention that the interference with the applicant company’s rights did not have a sufficiently foreseeable legal basis within the meaning of its case law (see paragraph 156 above). It can only reach the same finding in relation to Article 1 of the First Protocol, and this is sufficient to conclude that there has been a violation of that Article. 189. The above conclusion dispenses the court from reviewing whether the other requirements of Article 1 of the First Protocol was satisfied in the present case, in particular whether the control of the use of the applicant company’s ‘property’ was ‘in accordance with general interest’.”
“I have held the claimants’ argument on accreditation to be well-founded. Though acting in good faith, the Authority misapplied the statutory scheme, and the claimants were unlawfully denied that to which they were statutorily entitled. Their rights under article 1 of the First Protocol were thus breached.”
“I am not persuaded that as a consequence of this review the appellant is being unfairly treated. They are in fact receiving the appropriate subsidy for someone incurring the costs involved in developing their particular technology. It is true that they were not obtaining the windfall resulting from the increase in electricity prices which they would have received had no error been made. Furthermore, it may be the case that other producers are receiving a windfall as a result of that price increase and will continue to do so until their technologies are reviewed…That is not, in my judgment, a sufficient reason to confer this benefit on the appellant. It may be bad luck that but for the error the appellant would have been treated more favourably than was necessary properly to subsidise their technology, particularly since some others will have received the more favourable treatment. It does not follow that it was unfair and an abuse of power to carry out a full review.”
“Just satisfaction requires that damages be awarded to them.”
“I am today announcing the start of the first review of the Feed-In Tariffs (FITs) scheme for small scale low carbon electricity generation. The FITs review will: • Assess all aspects of the scheme including tariff levels, administration and eligibility of technologies • Be completed by the end of the year, with tariffs remaining unchanged until April 2012 (unless the review reveals a need for greater urgency) … Broad terms of reference for the review are available from the First review of Feed-In Tariffs web page and we are seeking views on specific issues to be considered. The Government will not act retrospectively and any changes to generation tariffs implemented as a result of the review will only affect new entrants into the FITs scheme. Installations which are already accredited for FITs at the time will not be affected.”
“The comprehensive review of FITs announced on7 February 2011 will consider all aspects of the FITs scheme, including photovoltaic for all bands and applications, including social housing. It will report before the end of this year for implementation in April 2012. The review will also include specific fast-track consideration of large-scale solar photovoltaic installations of more than 50 kW and fast-track consideration of farm based Anaerobic Digestion. … On this basis, the review of tariffs for installations below 50 kW would not be fast-tracked. This is regardless of whether they are installed on private housing or social housing. The Government fully supports “rent roof” models (third party ownership financial packages), especially in the context of opening up the benefits of FITs to those living in social housing. However, the effectiveness and costs of all elements of the FITs scheme will be considered as part of the comprehensive review which will be tasked with improving the scheme to deliver both greater long term certainty to industry and investors and also deliver value for money to consumers.”
“Chris Leslie MP (Nottingham East) (Lab/Co-op) ...What is the Secretary of State’s view of the report on the front page of today’s Financial Times, which suggests that he is completely pulling the rug from underneath thousands of people up and down this country who might have taken steps to invest in solar power for their own houses and who are now finding that their investment is being completely undermined by his decisions? “Chris Huhne: There is no question of anybody’s investment being undermined by any of our decisions, because this Government—in this respect, I think we are no different from previous Governments— [we] are very committed to not having retrospection in legislation and legislative changes. However, we keep all our subsidies under review. I just told the hon. Member for Daventry (Chris Heaton-Harris) that we are cutting subsidies for onshore wind turbines by 10%, and that reflects what is going on in the real world. I recently visited a project run with the city council in Birmingham, where people were able to show me invoices from solar panel suppliers showing that they had managed to get a 33% reduction in the cost of solar panels in just one year. It is absolutely right that the Department goes on looking at the appropriate levels of subsidies to bring on these important technologies, and that is obviously what we will do.”
“[to] apply new generation tariffs [i.e. the tariffs proposed at para.6(i) of the document] from1 April 2012 to all new solar PV installations with an eligibility date on or after an earlier ‘reference date’ which we propose should be12 December 2011 . Installations with an eligibility date before the reference date will not be affected and will continue to be eligible for the current generation tariffs. Installations with an eligibility date between the reference date and1 April 2012 would be eligible for the current generation tariffs for electricity generated before1 April 2012 , but would move to the new generation tariffs for electricity generated on or after1 April 2012 (see section 2 for more detail).”
“We are now waiting for a judgment from the Court of Appeal and we cannot be sure of the date on which this will be issued. We continue to stand by our original proposal. However, I know that the uncertainty while we await the Court’s decision is difficult for the industry. A retention of the 43p tariff could also create substantial risks to the FITs budget if our appeal is unsuccessful. For these reasons, we believe it is prudent to bring forward our decision on one aspect of the consultation: the proposals for new solar PV tariffs. We are therefore laying before Parliament today some draft licence modifications which, subject to the Parliamentary process set out in theEnergy Act 2008 , makes provision for a reduced tariff rate (from1 April 2012 onwards) for new PV installations with an eligibility date on or after3 March 2012 . If the Court finds in favour of the Government’s appeal, we intend to stand by all our consultation proposals, including an earlier (December) reference date, subject to the Parliamentary procedure and consideration of consultation responses. It is very important that we reserve this as an option because these 43p payments will take a disproportionate share of the budget available for small-scale low-carbon technologies. We want instead to maximise the number of installations that are possible within the available budget rather than use available subsidy to pay a higher tariff to a smaller number of installations. The consultation closed on23 December 2011 and over 2,000 consultation responses were received which we have been analysing carefully. We are intending to announce the outcome of the consultation by9 February 2012 , in time for any resulting legislative changes to come into effect from1 April 2012 . Our aim is that this announcement will be accompanied by a set of reform proposals for the next phase of the comprehensive review of the FITs scheme, which will be the subject of a further consultation.”
“Yesterday, the Court of Appeal handed down a negative judgment on the Government’s appeal against an earlier decision by the High Court. We respectfully disagree with the judgment and are seeking permission to appeal to the Supreme Court. In the light of that, we cannot rule out the possibility that lower tariffs could be applied to installations which became eligible for FITs on or after the proposed reference date. It is important that consumers are aware of this.”