by business editor Trevor Sturgess

The Government's decision to slash power feed-in tariffs will hit businesses, threaten jobs and weaken the incentive to invest in solar energy, Kent firms have warned.

The tariff is set to fall from 43.3p per kilowatt hour to 21p from December 12, prompting fears that it will stall solar panel installation and cost jobs.

Swale Heating, based in Sittingbourne, denounced the move as "nonsense" and "too much, too soon."

Derek Dilks, commercial director of Affinitus Energy, Bobbing Hill, near Sittingbourne, said it was a "jobs destruction" move. His firm had created more than 20 new jobs in the last year and they were now at risk.

Derek Dilks of Affinitus Energy said: "We set up this business because Government said it was serious about kickstarting a solar industry.

"We've generated local jobs at a time that much of the economy is struggling. And we've provided systems to hundreds of homes and businesses that are saving them money and helping cut our carbon emissions.

"But all this is at risk if the Government take an axe to this policy. To throw workers in a new, high tech, environmentally sustainable industry out of work at a time like this would be pure madness."

Swale Heating said it was shocked at the severity of the cutbacks and the speed of the changes.

Matthew Edwards, sales director, said: "We all knew tariff changes were due, but these cuts have been brought in virtually overnight. How can this be constructive?

"You have to ask, what message are ministers sending? They have claimed to be "the greenest government ever".

"It's nonsense to expect customers make such a major decision in one month. It also puts considerable pressure on installers who have invested in this type of energy."

Nearly 100,000 people have taken up the feed-in tariff scheme by installing solar panels costing from

Climate change and energy minister Greg Barker said the tariff cut was in response to the "plummeting" cost of panels and the need to "stay within budget and not threaten the viability of the scheme."