You and Yours - 29/07/2010

A number of companies are gearing up to take advantage of the subsidy the government is paying to people who fit solar panels to generate electricity - the Feed in Tariff or FIT. The idea being they fit the panels for free but take the generous tax free revenues that flow from their use for the next twenty five years. It's been calculated that the revenue from FIT could pay for the installation three times over. Think tank, the Policy Exchange, says FIT should be abolished because it is costs nearly £500 to save a tonne of carbon under the scheme and there are more cost effective methods of reducing carbon output. Tourist authorities in Jersey have complained to the BBC because they say that the Channel Islands weather is frequently ignored or inaccurate in national broadcasts. They say this has an impact on tourist revenues because it is well known that people take impulse breaks based on weather reports. Local authorities have been urged to dip into their pension pots by a local government think tank as a means of combating central government cuts. The New Local Government Initiative say there are millions of pounds in the Local Authority Pensions pot that could be profitably and safely used by town halls battling central government cuts to protect jobs and assets in their areas.