Solar panel subsidies to be slashed from next year

Cuts to the feed-in-tarriff scheme, which rewards households for using renewable energy, will see the amount they earn fall from 43.3p per kilowatt hour of solar power to 21p.

Returns will fall from about 7 per cent to 4 per cent, official papers published on the Energy Saving Trust (EST) website suggest, in a move that could make the technology affordable only to the wealthy.

The move would almost double the length of time it would take for solar panels to become cost-effective, meaning it would take homeowners an estimated 18 years to earn their money back rather than 10.

Solar panels have dropped in price from an average of £13,000 to £10,000 over the past two years, meaning the amount consumers could save has steadily risen.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/greenpolitics/8856708/Solar-panel-subsidies-to-be-slashed-from-next-year.html