Feed in Tarrifs

[mpooley]

What do people think about the new Feed in Tarrifs announced by the govt?






<admin: typo fixed>

[Paulh_Boats]

I think they are a great step forward...and the concept will last forever.

Dirty energy will become more and more taxed and restricted by legislation; Green energy will become more and more valuable and money will be poured into it.

[Rooster]

A great idea and a notion that is very worthwhile.

However I'm unsure abouts its implementation in the UK. The MCS aspect is a shambles IMHO, the scheme will only fund a limited number of installs (I believe it was designed to get a target number of installations and no more), treatment of those already with installations looks very poor, Hydro looks to be a nightmare, and its funded by charging a premium on those who have no way of funding improvements to lower their consumption.

I think the only people to benefit from FITs will be those who already had the capital to install. Those without capital will be left to pay the premium to fund the scheme.
Some individuals will do very well but I'm not convinced it will have a significant impact on the UKs energy problems as a whole.

Overall I think its a poor implementation and runs the risk of becoming seen as just another scheme to shift money from the have nots pockets into the haves pockets.

[peter999]

 As long as the govenment are prepaired to give people INTEREST FREE loans to pay for the initail investment and repayment period of 10/ 20 years it will be fine if not its just another way of allowing the people who already have spare money to make more money and for those who have not got the spare money they will lose at twice once on having to pay the ever increasing energy bills and then by not receiving the FIT!!
Peter

[Ted]

I initially agreed with you Rooster, but hopefully there will be more schemes (similar to AShadeGreener) that use the FITs income to fund the capital cost of an installation and put in on anyone's roof free-of-charge. There are plenty of social landlords and community housing organisations that want to do exactly this.  Our transition group is currently looking at ways to fund similar schemes to help address fuel-poverty.  Lots of new things become possible with the certainty of a 20 or 25 year income stream.

[Paulh_Boats]

Rooster,

There are suggestions that Finance companies could pay for installing PV and claim the generation tariff....allowing the home dwellers to benefit from lower electricity bills.

Then those without the capitol can benefit - however look how much people spend on alcohol, smoking and excessive food consumption.

According to this report an average 20-a-day smoker can expect to shell out £2,500 a year:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5360926.stm

That will fund a PV system, and there is a high proportion of low income smokers (30% I think??)


On a different thread, I will be happy as a Landlord to install PV on my late Dad's rental house if I can claim the FITs and get watertight insurance against panel damage (its that kind of area).

-Paul

[desperate]

Any kind of subsidy is open to your arguement and I agree that it does skew the market in favour of the rich, however there would be almost no incentive to invest otherwise. Also if it encourages the supply side to grow, the unit costs will come down and therefore bring it into the reach of the less well off. Peters interest free loans would work IF  the GOVT or SOMEONE had billions to invest upfront,

Desp

[peter999]

 The government has an endless supply of money WHEN IT WANTS TOO its called quantitative essaying or to you and I printing more money to grease the countries cash flow!

 If they really want the general public to take this on board seriously then they need to do something like interest free loans, the added advantages it that it will bring the existing housing stock up to date helping the situation further.

I work in financial services so live in a very regulated world full of bureaucracy and know how these things generally work lots of hype and promise but little action or very very watered down action especially in an election year

[Ted]

DECC have said that they hope 'the market' will step in and provide the financial vehicles to enable loans for renewables financed by FITs.

There is little hope that the government will do this in any substantial way. They are running a Pay As You Save scheme as a pilot but with minimal funding available - £2m a year for 2 years: 

http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Home-improvements-and-products/Pay-As-You-Save-Pilots

[wookey]

It's 'quantative easing', not 'quantative essaying'.

The is no particular reason why the Govt should provide loans with our money, it's much better done by third parties. The govt responsibility is to set up an environment where such loans are viable, which is exactly what they have done. Yes it's true that what this scheme does is allow those with money to invest to put into RE rather than than something else. Only people who/institutions which have money can invest in RE, that's always been the case.

[peter999]

 Wookey sorry I blame the spell checker for that

I would rather the government uses TAX PAYERS money to help the tax payers  to improve their homes, lower their fuel bills and produce less CO2 than to bailout banks which then do their utmost to get their share price back up but as little as possible to help people borrow money to buy houses or keep their business from going down with cash flow problems.

Just my opinion ( and most of the population)

[JohnS]

I would rather the government uses TAX PAYERS money

The Government uses quite enough of my money already.  I would rather decide how to use it myself.  If they don't have it they cannot waste it.  Gordon has been 'investing' for nearly 13 years now and where is the payback?

If you want them to use more of your money, just make a vouluntary contribution to them.  As for myself, there are some much more deserving causes and charities that I voluntarily give money to.

[linesrg]

Good Afternoon,

I'll have to state from the outset that I am very mcuh a cynic about all of this.

FYI the Scottish Government is offering interest free loans for renewable energy installs as I have posted previously. My problem is getting an MCS approved contractor to get his/ her backside on site to provide quotes so I could apply if I wished!

I, as somebody who might be considered to fall on the side of the have's rather than the have nots, might take issue with that statement.

There are previous examples of this like the child allowance payable to houses with incomes up to £55,000 or the current childcare allowance scheme which people with appropriate incomes are taking maximum advantage of and now being persecuted as people on lower incomes seemingly can't be bothered to get off their bottoms and take up the 'free' money available (with apologies if this offends somebody on this site).

Regardless of income the FIT's scheme should be classless. The reality is that those with a higher disposable income will take greater advantage I don't doubt (and I probably fall into that bracket). I don't mind admitting that whilst the returns aren't brilliant they are solid (providing the sun shines of course) and currently offer a greater rate of return than ERNIE does or possibly an ISA. My investment is both green in intent and done with a large dose of financial avarice.

Regards

Richard

[peter999]

 JOHN s I AGREE WITH YOU but IF THEY ARE GOING TO TAKE IT without ASKING I would rather they use it for interest free loans for RE that to bail out the banks!

[guydewdney]

We have been doing some research today WRT hydro accreditation. beat this:-

There are NO MCS qualified installers.
There are NO accredited Hydro equipment.
There are NO companies capable of accrediting the equipment.
They cannot accredit you to be an MCS installer without equipment.
Each turbine is site specific - so requires induvidual accreditation.

The UKAS (UK accreditation service bunch) are the people who say if XYZ company is capable of accrediting a thing - be it a drug, or a wind turbine. They have NO hydro people / companies.....

Would you - as a potential hydro site, spend x00,000 pounds on an install, in the HOPE that it becomes accredited, with some bloke, who isnt accredited but hopes to be, with some equipment that might be accredited by a company that doesnt exist, or even if it does, doesnt yet have the accreditation to accredit the equipment? Lost? I am!

So WTF am I supposed to do - or anyone - trying to do an 'approved' install? Effing useless. Waste of paper. Talking to an unnamed MCS qualified installer (for other technologies...) his suggestion was that it appeared to be more a setup for making sure you can tick the box for the wind turbine install - rather than your ability to actually DO the install. His words, not mine.