A leading Yorkshire renewable energy company has reacted with dismay to Government plans to exclude homes with poor energy efficiency ratings from receiving green energy incentive payments.
Harrogate-based Clean Energy (Yorkshire) Ltd – which employs a workforce of more than 30 – says the change will penalise the owners of older properties from receiving the feed-in tariff payments for generating solar energy.
From April 1, the Government is proposing to only pay the feed-in tariff to houses that are rated Grade C or higher. However, the average rating is currently either band D or E!
Clean Energy (Yorkshire) Ltd director Tamsin Cassidy said:
The Grade C Standard is meaningless. It doesn’t give an accurate account of a property’s energy running costs. It’s a theoretical calculation.
If you have an older building there is very little you can actually do to get an improved energy rating. This proposal is unfair and in our view should be scrapped immediately.
Mrs Cassidy, who set up the business with her husband Spencer in 2009, added:
The industry as a whole is dismayed the Government is even considering this option. This has the potential to affect as many as nine out of the ten households.
This Government claims to be the greenest in the country’s history, yet it is introducing measures that will stop people from going down the renewable energy route.
If it is serious about reducing carbon emissions – and the country’s dependency on coal-fired power stations – it needs to think again.
One must remember this is in addition to reducing the feed-in tariff from 43.3p per unit to just 21p per unit, which has already had an impact.
