News

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Changes to Feed in Tariffs (FITS)

Fri, 1 June 2012
The Department for Energy and Climate Change has announced a number of changes to FITS which are paid to those who install solar panels to generate electricity:
 
  • From 1st August 2012 the generation tariff for domestic installations (up to 4kW) will be drop from 21p to 16p/kWh.
  • The export tariff will rise from 3.2p/kWh to 4.5p/kWh from the same date.
  • The length of time the tariff lasts for new installations will drop from 25 years to 20 years.
  • Any organisation owning more than 25 sites that receives FITS will receive full FITS for the first 25 installations and 90% for the rest.
  • In future the government plan to reduce the use-tariff every three months. This may be slowed down if uptake is low.
  • New tariff levels will be produced two months in advance of any change.
 

Number in Fuel Poverty Set to Rise

Fri, 1 June 2012
Latest fuel poverty statistics from the government suggest that more of us are likely to struggle to pay our energy bills in the future. Fuel poverty, which is when a household has to spend more than 10% of its income on fuel bills in order to keep their house warm, fell in England during 2010 from 4 million people to 3.5 million. This is thought to be due to a combination of rising incomes, improvements in the energy efficiency of homes and few changes in domestic energy prices between 2009 and 2010. Many of these factors have since changed and fuel poverty is expected to increase to 3.9 million in 2012. Domestic energy prices increased in late 2011 and some government subsidises for energy efficiency are due to be scrapped at the end of 2012.

Renewable Heat Incentive Premium Payment Round 2 Open for Applications

Fri, 1 June 2012
The RHI Premium Payment scheme has opened for a second round of grants for householders. Grants of between £300 and £1250 are available for households installing heat generating technologies such as solar thermal hot water, certain types of heat pump and biomass boilers.
 

Water Efficiency Awards 2012

Fri, 1 June 2012
The Water Efficiency Awards are the only scheme in the UK to celebrate the achievements of public, private and third sector organisations who: shout about water efficiency and encourage action, solve problems and overcome barriers to enable action, and save water by engaging with water users. Categories for this year's Water Efficiency Awards include ‘Community-led Initiative’. Entries need to be made by the end of June.
 

Sustainable Community Energy Network (SCENE) Survey

Fri, 1 June 2012
 SCENE, a sustainable community energy engagement and financing network, is carrying out a survey amongst people involved in community owned energy projects in England.