THOUSANDS of households in Swindon have benefitted from a soon-to-be scrapped green energy scheme, figures show.

The Feed-in Tariff scheme, which offers cash payments to homes who generate their own renewable energy, is being wound down by the government and will not accept new applicants from April.

Figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show 2,289 households in Swindon had signed up to the scheme as of September 2018.

According to the Renewable Energy Association households can expect to save between £100 and £200 a year on their energy bills, and receive £100 per year from two tariff payments.

Andy Bentley, Green Party candidate for North Swindon, criticised the plans.

He told the Adver: "Ending the FIT scheme is just one of many policy choices this government has made that not only ignore the threat of catastrophic climate change but actually make it more likely.

"They have repeatedly, recklessly, chosen to end investment in the green technologies of the future in favour of continued subsidies for old, polluting, fossil fuel technologies that damage our health and planet.

"It makes no sense that the government will pay well over the odds to the French and Chinese for risky nuclear power but it is not prepared to pay for clean energy produced by British home owners.

"One of the best things Swindon Borough Council has done in recent years is the Common Farm Solar project. Projects like Common Farm are going to be hard without the support the FITS scheme gives them."

The scheme is paid for by a levy on suppliers with over 250,000 customers.

The government says this means the cost is being passed onto consumers without solar panels.

A spokeswoman for the DBEIS said the scheme had outstripped predictions and had helped kick-start decentralised renewable energy generation.

"However, ultimately consumers pay—regardless of whether or not they directly participate in the scheme," she continued.

“The UK leads the world in renewable energy and will continue to do so."