Archive for August, 2009

Environment Minister Peter Garrett recently launched a new website aimed at helping householders further along the green path.

LivingGreener.gov.au is a web portal that contains straightforward information for homes on how to reduce consumption, emissions and waste in the areas of  energy, waste, water and transport. It also gives a comprehensive rundown of Federal Government rebates available to green up your home, but not any State or Local government initiatives.

The bad news for Victoria is that the Victorian government is reducing the Solar Hot Water Rebate for regional communities. The good news for bushfire-affected communities is that they are able to access the rebate when rebuilding their homes – previously the rebate was only available for upgrading hot water systems in existing homes.

More good news is that Victorian regional communities can still get the old, higher rebate if they apply before 4 September and install by 3 October 2009.

Reductions across the regional rebates vary considerably, depending on the type of hot water system: the rebate for electric boosted solar hot water drops by $300-500; for heat pumps it drops by $400. The maximum rebate available under the scheme is now $1600, down from $2350.

Other rebates are also available to Victorian households wanting to install solar hot water. For a summary go to the ResourceSmart website.

There has been no new information from the Queensland Government on how they intend delivering on their promise of putting cheap solar hot water systems into 200,000 Queensland homes under the Queensland Solar Hot Water Program.

The longer they delay, the less likely it is that they can deliver.

This is because accessing a cheap system through the Queensland Solar Hot Water Program relies on being eligible for the Federal Government solar hot water rebate under the Energy Efficiency Homes Package.

In April Minister Peter Garrett said the Federal Government were planning to supply a $1600 rebate on 300,000 solar hot water systems over the next three years, ie. 100,000 a year. However the Queensland plan is to use this same program to help subsidise solar hot water in 200,000 Queensland homes – in other words, taking the lion’s share and leaving the remainder for the rest of the states.

Right now, if you are looking to install solar hot water, NSW is the state to be in. This is because the NSW government’s rebate of $600-$1200 combined with the $1600 Federal rebate means sales of solar hot water are booming.

The promise of cheap solar hot water systems in Queensland, combined with no method of delivering them, has effectively stalled the Queensland solar hot water market. People are only buying if they really need to, or if they simply don’t believe the Queensland government can deliver anything that’s worth waiting for.

Given the booming sales of solar hot water in NSW, which take full advantage of the Federal rebate, plus uptake in the other states, what will be left for Queensland buyers?

The longer the Queensland government delays its Solar Hot Water Program, the less likely it will be able to deliver its promise. It depends on Federal Rebates, and they are going fast to other states.

SolarPay is delighted to announce that on 7 August we joined forces with Ingenero, a Brisbane-based solar power company. The merger will open up many opportunities in the Australian solar market.

The coming together of these two young and energetic Australian companies strengthens our ability to put solar power and solar hot water within the reach of every Australian householder. Under the new brand of Ingenero, the former SolarPay team will continue to provide high quality systems to householders, as while Ingenero’s strengths lie in the commercial and government sectors.

To discuss the financial and greenhouse gas emission savings your household can make by switching to solar hot water, solar power or heat pump, please call us on Freecall 1800 993 334.

An hour ago the Senate has approved the legislation for the Renewable Energy Target. This ends 10 weeks of uncertainty about the replacement of the federal solar rebate that was canned on 9 June. In that time of uncertainty, REC prices have dropped. That means that the original government promise to receive up to $7,500 through REC’s are currently not achieveable.  Chances are that REC prices will be on the rise as Australia is now committed to 20% renewable energy by 2020 (up from 9%).

Details of how to apply for the solar credits are yet to be published. And we’ll let you know as soon as they are available.