Up to 3,500 jobs in the North West – including Cumbria – are at risk from plans to slash the feed-in tariff for electricity from solar panels. 

The estimate comes from the Solar Trade Association, which claims that, nationally, 27,000 jobs could go. 

The feed-in tariff is paid by government for electricity generated by solar, even if it is used on-site. 

Ministers are consulting on cutting this by 87 per cent from 12.4p per kilowatt hour to 1.6p from early next year. 

There are no plans to cut the export tariff for electricity sold to the National Grid. 

But slashing the feed-in tariff would lengthen the time a solar installation takes to pay for itself, making it uneconomic in many cases. 

Paul Barwell, chief executive of the Solar Trade Association, said: “The Government’s short-term thinking is condemning hardworking families to a future of higher energy costs.” 

The solar industry employs 4,400 people in the North West. 

The Solar Trade Association believes that 3,500 of these could be lost, including 72 in Carlisle, and is calling on the Government to reconsider. 

A consultation on the proposals closes on October 23. 

Sundog Energy employs 20 people at North Lakes Business Park, Penrith. The company has been installing solar panels for 20 years. 

It supplied solar PV systems for London’s King’s Cross Station, the Olympic Park, Bradford Cathedral and latterly Thomas Graham’s new premises at Kingmoor Park, Carlisle.

Ali Ross, a director of the business, said: “We are bracing ourselves for what is a drastic change. 

How it will affect the market is difficult to predict. “For certain sectors and projects there will still be a case for solar, but the domestic market is going to be hit hard.” 

In the meantime, Sundog is snowed under with work as customers try to beat the tariff cut. 

Systems installed and connected before the changes come in lock into the existing feed-in tariff, which is guaranteed to rise in line with RPI inflation for 20 years. 

Ms Ross added: “We have people who have been considering solar for months, or even years, deciding they want it now. 

“We’re doing our best to help but there’s a limit to how many we can do.” 

Around 59,000 homes in the North West already have solar panels, as do 1,400 schools, warehouses and commercial buildings