UK Government Loses Solar Feed-In Tariff Bid

The government has suffered a third court defeat over its attempts to cut solar panel incentives, meaning tens of thousands of people will receive higher payments.  The supreme court rejected the government's appeal over a court ruling in December that its halving of solar payments were "legally flawed", marking the end of legal options for the Department of Energy and Climate Change. It is the second government appeal to fail, following a unanimous upholding of the original ruling by court of appeal judges in January.  The 30,735 homeowners and businesses who installed solar panels after a 12 December cut-off date and before 3 March will now be eligible for the previous, higher feed-in tariff (Fit) of 43p per kWh of energy generated, which was cut to 21p with just six weeks' notice. The higher payments will add £700m to energy bills, which the Fit is paid through, over 25 years.  Read more on the Guardian website.