UK Government Axes Green Deal

The government has signed the death warrant for another environmental scheme, this time the Green Deal energy-saving programme that ministers once called the biggest home improvement measure since the second world war. A day after moving to axe solar farm and woodchip power subsidies, Amber Rudd, the energy and climate change secretary, said the government was pulling funding for the finance company that delivers the Green Deal scheme, in order to “protect taxpayers”. –Pilita Clark, Financial Times, 24 July 2015

Households face cuts in “feed-in tariffs” for new solar panels on roofs under government plans to prevent subsidies for renewable energy spiralling out of control. Amber Rudd, the energy secretary, said the renewable energy industry could not be given a blank cheque and the level of subsidies should be reduced because of a fall in the cost of solar panels. Ms Rudd said: “We can’t have a situation where industry has a blank cheque paid for by people’s bills. I’m going to ensure that bills are kept down.” –Ben Webster, The Times, 23 July 2015

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