A majority of the respondents in a new YouGov poll would support the UK matching incoming European Union regulations that guarantee payments for solar homes exporting into the grid; including those that voted to leave in the Brexit referendum.
The poll, commissioned by 10:10 Climate Action, found that 71% of the 1,612 respondents want the UK government to reflect a proposed new EU law. This will require all member countries to guarantee citizens receive compensation, which reflects the market value, for any surplus renewable electricity they produce that they give to their national grid for use by others.
Included within this group is 69% of Leave voters, which made up over half of the polling group, which in its entirety saw a significant majority (80%) support the deployment of solar as an alternative to non-renewables; just 2% opposed.
Neil Jones, campaigner at 10:10 Climate Action, said: “Anyone can see scrapping the export tariff for what it is – quite literally daylight robbery. Just as Europe looks to protect its rooftop solar producers, our ministers are expecting households and businesses to give clean energy away for free to corporate energy companies.
“No wonder that both Leave and Remain voters are largely united in backing rights for Brits that match protections in Europe. Government must urgently announce an export tariff for small-scale solar after March 2019 – or it will send a very clear message that benefits from solar and taking urgent action on climate change are off-limits to ordinary people.”
Read more: Solar Power Portal