Very lucky - when I had a dropped Kerb put in, I was only allowed to use a Council Approved Contractor off their limited approved list. Once I had it done, I had to pay the Council £200 so they could check the completed work that the Contractor, that they said I had to use, had done.

I did argue that if I had done the work myself, I could understand them checking to make sure it was compliant, but surely if I was only allowed to use a contractor that they had approved, there was no need to check the work, or they should charge the Contractor so he could stay on their limited approved list.

That fell on deaf ears. I imagine they were charging him for the privilege too...

TBM ..... different altogether in town (agree regarding the 'approved contractor' thing, pointless money-grabbing) ..... my house can't be seen from any neighbour's and they're all another single farmhouse half a mile away .... would make an ideal Bond-Villain lair .... and being a registered agricultural holding even a big steel shed is done on a single routine waiver form rather than a full application .... as for the 'little stuff' ? 😉

K

Yes it isn't an easy calculation. With our first FIT scheme the FIT was 45p / kWh but the installed cost £14,500. Our second £5,200 for a bigger array but 4p per kWh. We did it because it seemed the right approach. I would like the govt to demand all new buildings have solar & batteries.

I have! And I'm not surprised!!

And triple glazing. And quadruple insulation layers. And, and...

Graham, I compared our new (2017) house with Mr Jenks 1970s residence. We have the latest insulation etc and are using vastly less power.

Yes. I suspect my mid '50s property is even worse than either of yours.

Will there be a change to FIT as the EV take up increases? With questions about generating capacity and EV charging increases perhaps enticing more people to fit solar car charging would ease the possible power shortfall and help with infrastructure improvements to widen charging point access.
Be prepared for EV charging tax to be introduced as well. When petrol/diesel fuel tax starts to fall it will be replaced. Perhaps pay per mile tolls too? The Treasury will always be looking for income and replace reducing sources.
Take tobacco duty. For the last few years it has been steadily declining. Now hugely less than when I was in cigars. Hand rolled is the only increasing sector but only having a marginal effect.
Motoring is a cash cow. It will continue to be so and, by using eco arguments ICE vehicles in particular will be targets. At some stage even EV’s will be targets, just a matter of when not if.

The problem with FITs is that they are (largely) a tax on the working class in order to subsidise the middle class.

Just demonstrating that any subsidies to kick start new(ish) technologies have consequences I guess.

Rovert .... lots of truth in that ... when it first came out I always looked at it as paying a one-off charge for the privelige of passing your electricity bill to your neighbours.

Sospan .... interesting quandry for the government of the day .... increasing the burden on ice cars while subsidising ev ... as above, rewarding and subsidising the better off while penalising the less well off who can only afford (probably second hand) ice cars to enable them to get to work .... possibly they'll give grants towards the purchase ev to those on low incomes .... but that will mean caning the well off to pay for that on top of making up the reduced input to the treasury from lost fuel duty ... we can be sure that once the market matures ev won't be any cheaper than ice is currently.

K