The government has not properly recognised the role social landlords can play in cutting fuel poverty through schemes to promote renewable power generation, a report has found.
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation study, Renewable energy: getting the benefits right for social housing, argues the design of mechanisms such as the feed-in tariff were based around economic rather than social demands, meaning the social housing sector failed to take advantage of the scheme.
The feed-in tariff is a payment made for the electricity generated from photovoltaic solar panels installed on homes. Social housing providers sought to take up the scheme in large numbers, but their plans were halted when the government cut the payment rate with little notice in late 2011.
The JRF report states: ‘Only a minority of social landlords were then able to progress. Continuing uncertainty over future rates has left most schemes either abandoned or postponed indefinitely.’