The future of solar in South Australia is at risk. The South Australian government is considering cutting the payment made to solar owners for the energy they provide to the grid. This would force them them to deal directly with big power companies, who have no interest in providing a fair price for solar. To date, over 145,000 homes in South Australia have solar on our rooftops – that’s one in five homes now pumping clean safe energy into the grid each day! These families were helped to go solar because the government made sure they were paid a fair price for thier power. But this same opportunity is now under threat for all future solar owners.
The NSW government made the same change recently, and here’s what happened to Craig:
“I put solar on just after the NSW government closed the Solar Bonus Scheme. Since then I’ve been forced to accept next to nothing from any electricity retailer because they are not required to supply a feed-in tariff. They just take my excess solar power I give into the grid and sell it back to me at top dollar!” The NSW experience shows when retailers set the rules, solar owners lose. We can’t let this happen here in South Australia, too. There are still thousands more homes that want to go solar. The SA government must not take away our ability to take control of our energy bills, by putting solar tariffs in the hands of the big power companies.
Submissions are open now until 26 July 2013 for a review of the feed-in tariff program, and now is our time to have our voices heard on why the South Australian government can’t let the big retailers control solar payments in our state. You can help all solar owners in South Australia by signing this petition, which will put in your submission to the feed-in tariff review. Don’t forget to also tell the South Australian government what solar means to you. Why did you make, or want to make, the move to solar? What does going solar mean for you and your family? Why do you think we can’t let the retailers have power over our power bills?