Social planning is like this

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 08:50:43 +0000

I just heard an item on Radio 4 about the governments subsidy of people who want to add wind turbines or solar panels to their home. The program gets about 28 million pounds a year to distribute (less, according to the chap being interviewed, than the cost of a small section of main A-road) and is distributed, on a lottery basis, monthly.

This is crazy even for government. We all get taxed and then the government drip feeds our own money back to us using some daft scheme that probably costs more to administer than it gives away.

If we accept the notion that the government should be setting (or encouraging) social priorities (like responsible energy usage) then I think the correct way to achieve this without creating more problems is to offer a tax allowance. Instead of petitioning the government for the 50% subsidy and installing the wind turbine if and when I get lucky, I do it when it makes sense and deduct the subsidy direct from my next tax bill.

Curiouser and Curiouser! on alternative-energy

Social planning is like this