43p Solar Tariff update.

After last week's excitement when the Government lost their appeal in the High Court and the solar installation industry began advertising installations at the 43p tariff rate, the last few days have seen one or two question that rate.

It's true that the Government has applied for permission to appeal to the Supreme Court, ('applied for' mind you) in a bid to get the Appeal Courts decision overturned. If this does happen, then the 21p tariff rate will prevail from 12th December 2011.

However, there's growing optimism that with 4 judges already ruling in favour of the solar industry, the Supreme Court would have a tough time finding in favour of the Government.

And the online 'chatter' last week was suggesting anything up to 8 months before a Supreme Court decision.

Certainly, our network of approved solar installers have been telling us that they can supply and install at the 43p tariff before March 3rd, and a glance at the Google listings backs this up as many are quoting the 43p tariff rate in their Google adverts.

And it's not too far fetched an idea to entertain, that by chasing an appeal and stating on their own website that households shouldn't rely on the tariff being 43p, the DECC might just be trying to put off a 'gold rush' of installations before 3rd March, which would severely dent the funds, the Government has put aside for paying the tariffs.

With today's lower installation rates, even if the Government should win, the 21p tariff still represents a decent return on your installation investment, but if, as the solar industry thinks, the Government lose the Supreme Court action, then what an opportunity the 43p tariff represents!

Amidst all the talk of tariffs and returns on investments, there's three things that may be overlooked:

Firstly, the generation tariff paid by your energy provider remains at 3p, and that's on top of whatever the prevailing tariff rate is.

Secondly, tariff income is tax free.

Thirdly, energy prices will only increase (as a trend) so your savings off of your regular energy bills will only increase.

Lastly, with talk of households having to prove (or undertake additional insulation work) their homes energy efficiency, in order to qualify for future tariffs, the sooner you get on the tariff ladder, the better.

You can get an instant online solar panel installation quote from our easy to use website - Solar Panel Quoter and afterwards, we can offer to find you up to 3 local reputable companies to quote for the work you want doing.