A community hall which invested £7,000 from its own funds towards the installation of solar panels has been dealt a blow.

Sheviock Memorial Hall committee, in Crafthole, believed they would be paid by their energy supplier for electricity created by the panels and exported to the National Grid.

However, they have now been told they will not be getting any payments.

EDF Energy has informed the committee that, because they received £10,000 towards the installation from the Lottery-funded Awards For All, it is not able to give them any Feed-in Tariff (FiT) payments.

The energy provider said an OFGEM (Office of Gas and Electricity Markets) ruling meant that projects financed by public funding are not able to receive such payments.

However Peter McLaren who put the successful Awards For All bid together says that EDF Energy is wrong and that the committee will be fighting what they see as 'an excuse not to pay them'.

Mr McLaren has contacted OFGEM which, replying through its representative Sarah Piggott, stated that it had not yet considered how funding from Awards For All would be recognised in the regulation about pubic funding.

'That has given us some hope,' said Mr McClaren. 'I have also informed EDF Energy of the research I have done into its stance that the Big Lottery, which finances Awards for All, is responsible for the allocation of public funds.

'The Business Innovation and Skills website states that Lottery funding is not regarded as public sector funding so can be counted toward the private sector contribution to a project.'

Hall chairman Mike Snowling said: 'EDF Energy is totally wrong the way it is treating us.'

MP Sheryll Murray is looking into the case.