Given the relative socioeconomic and environmental benefits linked to the deployment of electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E), its public promotion has been a priority on the agendas of governments in virtually all European countries. The Spanish government has not been an exception in this regard. Public support at the national level has been based on a feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme, which has had its pros and cons in the encouragement of effective and cost-effective deployment of RES-E. Based on different information sources and empirical data, this paper provides an integrated assessment of the system in the period of influence of the Royal Decree 2818/1998 (i.e., between 1999 and 2003), according to different criteria. The strong and weak points of the system are assessed. The paper suggests that some of its elements should be redesigned. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.