Oral Answers to Questions

Ruth Cadbury Excerpts

Thursday 19th November 2015 Commons Chamber

[Michelle Donelan (Chippenham) (Con)]

15. What assessment her Department has made of the effect of proposed changes to feed-in tariffs on the number of jobs in the solar power industry.

[Ruth Cadbury (Brentford and Isleworth) (Lab)]

19. What assessment she has made of the effect of proposed changes to feed-in tariffs on solar power companies in the UK.

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Andrea Leadsom)]

During consultation on the proposed changes to the feed-in tariffs, we strongly encouraged all parts of the small-scale renewables sector to provide evidence on the likely impact. The actual impact on solar companies will, of course, depend on the options taken forward when the responses to the consultation have been considered.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this very important matter for her constituency. I can absolutely assure her that we are looking at it carefully. I had a round table meeting with a number of solar firms and heard their views at first hand before the consultation closed. We are looking carefully at the more than 55,000 responses and will come forward with our policy response as soon as we can.

[Ruth Cadbury]

Virginia Fassnidge is one of my constituents who installed solar panels to cut her family’s household bills and save carbon. Will the Minister explain to those who want to follow her example why they should, when the 98% cut to the feed-in tariff subsidy scheme no longer makes it attractive to consumers, risks the very viability of the domestic solar industry when it is about to become viable without subsidy and completely undermines the Secretary of State’s solar revolution?

[Andrea Leadsom]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her question. Obviously her constituent will be pleased to know that the subsidy from the bill payer that she has received will continue to be available to her—I think there has been some confusion about that point. For those who come later, the proposal in our consultation is for the return to investors to be in the region of about 4%, as opposed to the current level, which is significantly higher. We were required by the EU to look at the tariffs on a three-year basis and that is what we have done. We have put forward a proposal and we are looking carefully at the responses.