Today's decision is a damaging blow to Ministers and officials at the Department of Energy and Climate Change, who must now introduce the contingency date of March 3 for the start of the 21p rate for solar PV and not the original December 12 deadline.
The court judgement also means customers who have had solar panels installed and are registered ahead of the new March 3 cut-off point will now receive the original 43p rate for 25 years.
Customers who register on or after March 3 will qualify for the current higher rate until April 1, when it will drop to 21p.
DECC was also ordered to pay the full costs of around £125,000 for the appeal hearing. In a Twitter message immediately after the ruling was handed down, Energy Minister Greg Barker, wrote: "Win, lose or draw today, important we move forward together, drive dow n costs + step up deployment."
