The Government is closing an energy payment scheme which will mean homes with solar panels could be giving their excess power to the grid for free, provoking outrage among campaigners.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Department (Beis) has announced the closure of the ‘export tariff’ scheme.
It pays householders for excess power that is fed back into the grid, to new solar generators from next April.
The closure of the scheme has prompted fury among green campaigners with Dr Doug Parr, chief scientist for Greenpeace UK, describing it as ‘simply perverse’.
The Government is also closing the ‘feed-in tariff’ scheme, which pays small-scale renewables such as solar panels on homes for the clean power they generate, to new installations in a move which was expected by the industry.
The move to close export tariffs comes despite the opposition of the majority of respondents to a consultation.
Opponents warned that ending the tariff would leave householders who install panels from April having to give away their power to energy companies free of charge.
