Solar subsidies slashed for second time as scheme balloons over budget The Department for Energy and Climate Change estimates the new system will give subsidies to 620,000 households over the next four years for £500 million, far less than the £1.7 billion cost of the 250,000 projects so far. The High Court found the Government's original decision to cut solar subsidies was illegal because it was done too quickly and without enough consultation. Ministers said the new rate of subsidies would restore certainty to the market about how much households and businesses can expect to get for their solar energy. However, Caroline Flint, the shadow energy secretary, said the decision to cut solar subsidies again was a missed opportunity for Ed Davey, the new Energy Secretary, who took over from Chris Huhne last week. "Ed Davey has flunked the opportunity to use his appointment to change course," she said. There might be a new Secretary of State, but it's the same old story: chaos and incompetence from the Department for Energy and Climate Change. Solar industry groups condemned the move as an "utterly devastating" attack on jobs in the green sector. Howard Johns, of the Solar Cut Don't Kill industry campaign, said the move had once again "pulled the rug from under the industry's feet at short notice." He claimed the proposal will "destroy at least 25,000 jobs in the previously flourishing solar sector, at a time when the UK economy is already struggling in the face of mass unemployment." "The Government's initial cut to the tariff was brutal, and this further cut will be utterly devastating for the UK solar sector," Mr Johns said. The hard facts are that a cut on this scale will leave the solar industry dead in a ditch, destroying tens of thousands of jobs and cutting off a green, high tech British industry just as it starts to flourish. However, others in the industry were less pessimistic, predicting a rush of installations of solar panels before the subsidies go down again in July. Robert Goss, managing director of Conergy UK, a solar company, said the announcement was actually "a very good day for British solar." "There will be a boom in May and June as people look to complete installations before the June tariff reduction, with returns of seven to nine per cent, " he said.