So finally Osborne is about to confirm our worst nightmares and tell us just who will keep their funding and who will go to the wall. I am reliably informed (just how reliably remains to be seen on Wednesday) that the rumoured abandonment of the infamous FIT (Feed In Tariff) will not happen; not entirely surprising given the overwhelming lobbying effort of the piggies with their snouts in the trough of eco-obscenity...
The very notion that a government could review and possibly abandon a measure just six months into its precarious three year lifespan caused major ructions in the energy and investment industries alike. How could we ever hope to expect investment in any energy technology if the promises of a government were to be so lightly cast aside? Well, quite apart from the fact that we would be unutterably naive to believe anything any politician said from one day to the next, surely it is the prerogative of a democratically elected government (more or less) to modify/reverse the policies/promises of a previous administration. Why should they not decide to abandon the outrageously unfair, unjust, inequitable, pointless FIT?
Well, primarily because, in the midst of countless cost cutting exercises imposed by HM Treasury, the FIT, master of all stealth taxes, does not actually cost the Exchequer a single penny! It is an almost perfect construct, robbing us all (including the poor) to pay for the eco-bling excesses of the chattering rich, and making the energy companies (the de facto tax collectors) the bad guys! Energy bills go up (not taxes) to subsidise the most cost ineffective technologies in the vain hope that this might ultimately contribute to our 2020 targets. I am very reliably informed that £5 notes burn rather well and as a zero carbon fuel source...
But then Cameron made his silly announcement that he was going to lead the greenest government ever with about the same level of understanding of the issues as the last lot, so God help us! Government and energy policy by sound bite continues.
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