OT Another Green stealth tax?

Question

I've just listened to a Government minister on the radio suggest that _everyone_ wins from fitting solar panels to 800,000 social housing properties.

The tenants get the solar panels fitted for free. They will save an average of £240 per annum on their electricity bills. The scheme will create 100 new new jobs The jobs will go to ex-servicemen. It's a UK company doing the work.

I paraphrase, The minister said it was win-win for everyone, tenants reduce their bills, 1000 UK jobs in a UK company and the (Dutch) investor gets a return on the investment. It shows faith UK companies for foreign investors.

He remained strangely quiet about how the investor would make a return on the money. I guess the costs are going to paid by increasing everyone else's energy utility bills - another stealth tax.

Background from the Ealing Times (the first place to have the installations)

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I wonder if all the social housing in the selected areas will get panels irrespective of the location/orientation and what happens if some of the properties generate little solar power?

Brian Gaff · Answer

Probably comes into the bracket of "seemed like a good idea at the time" Brian

alan_m · Answer

That should be 1000 new jobs I wonder what these 1000 people will do after the 5 year period of  investment?

David · Answer

Read about it in the Grauniad.

My immediate thought was "if they need to justify the whole thing by hiring ex-servicemen (not women, obviously) then it must be a really, really dodgy deal". Oh, and are ex-service people the new go to source for cheap labour now we are kicking out all those damned foreigners who would otherwise get this kind of job?

Presumably any income will be from what remains of FIT (unless, of course, they charge the owners of the rented property rental on the panels, or such like).

I smell a hidden bung from some or all of the taxpayers to promote a "fake good news" story.

Then again, I am a tad cynical.

Cheers

Dave R

JoeJoe · Answer

Why should the tenants of the social housing get any money from the  scheme at all?

T i m · Answer

They don't, they can't bank it, they don't have to spend so much money on their electric bills. If they use no electricity the 'earn' nothing. ;-)

The thing is the people funding the project will get the FIT payments (that us electricity consumers fund) and they are looking for places to stick the panels so they like harry can access that nice crowd funded FIT 'cash cow'.

The problem is, we still let them use the nukes when the sun goes in and other generating plant when we really shouldn't. They aren't helping us, they are just helping themselves.

Cake and eat it etc?

Cheers, T i m

Chris B · Answer

I heard the same (or a very similar) interview on the R4 Today programme. I thought the interviewer (Sarah Montague I think) was very poor as she completely failed to extract from the government minister from where this benevolent investor was going to obtain any return. It seemed like a magic money tree and everyone was going to be better off. She completely failed to highlight that most of her listeners would be worse off as they would all have to chip in to the FIT payments that would go back to the investors.

OT Another Green stealth tax?

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