More companies have joined the legal battle seeking damages from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) following its “legally flawed” cuts to the feed-in tariff scheme last year.

The companies claim that the “unlawful and unfair” cuts to the feed-in tariff caused substantial damages to the Solar companies’ respective businesses.

The group is claiming that the cuts made to the feed-in tariff led to a dramatic slump in orders and forced thousands of redundancies across many businesses.  As a result, the companies are seeking around £140 million in damages from the department to cover their loses.

The High Court has decided to consolidate the companies claims into one single case.  The average size of the claims lodged against the department is £6 million, with individual claims ranging from £250,000 to ‘tens of millions of pounds’.

Initially, three Solar companies requested that the department agree to pay £2.2 million in damages or face the prospect of another High Court battle.  DECC responded to the request in August 2012, refuting all liability and refusing to pay the claimed damages after insisting it was not responsible for the losses.

DECC is still adamant that it is not liable for any damages;  a DECC spokesperson said “While we can’t comment on the details of individual cases, the Department does not accept it has any liability and we will vigorously defend our position.”

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