SOLAR panel installation companies have responded angrily after the Government announced a December 12 cut-off date for new customers to receive current higher subsidy rates.

The cut in the Feed-in Tariffs (Fits) subsidy from 43p per kWh to 21p per kWh was expected, but firms have been shocked by the early cut-off date.

They have pointed out that the consultation period on the proposals is not due to end until December 23.

Many firms with advanced orders will struggle to meet the December 12 deadline to guarantee those customers receive the present tariff for the next 25 years.

Malcolm Potter, of the North-East Renewables Alliance, a consortium made up of small firms which install renewable energy devices, said firms were shocked by the early cut-off date.

He said: “It does seem strange that such a drastic event would take place within the consultation period.

“The whole thing not only has to be installed by December 12, but registered and licensed by that time as well.”

Fits is designed to encourage all renewables, but about 97 per cent of it has gone into photovoltaic (PV) panels used in the solar sector.

The Government said the cost of an average domestic solar panel installation has fallen since the start of the scheme in April 2010, from around £13,000 to £9,000.

A surge in households installing solar panels has also threatened to break the Fits budget.

Greg Barker, climate change minister, admitted firms faced a challenge, but said: “The plummeting costs of solar mean we’ve got no option but to act so that we stay within budget and not threaten the whole viability of the Fits scheme.”