Courier Mail
Friday 7/3/2008 Page: 9
STATES are being pressured by the Rudd Government to pay homeowners with solar power for their excess electricity. Climate Change Minister Penny Wong yesterday met with state and territory representatives to discuss the plan, which will set renewable energy targets while mitigating concerns about rising electricity costs.
The State Government is considering implementing the program with details such as the level of household rebates tipped to be revealed in the June 3 Budget. Under Senator Wong's blueprint, homeowners would be paid for feeding unused electricity from solar panels into the electricity grid. Senator Wong said she did not want to legislate or regulate the measures hut wanted the states to develop "nationally consistent principles for feed-in tariffs. A feed-in tariff is a rate, usually at a premium above the normal retail rate for wholesale electricity, that is paid to a renewable electricity generator.
Senator Wong said the working group would present a paper on a national approach by the end of June Economists have predicted Queensland's electricity bills could increase by $200 a year as retailers pass on the cost of carbon.
However forecasters say the extra cost to he passed on within two years would be less than the increase in real wages. The Courier-Mail reported yesterday that households would be offered heavily discounted solar power systems to help cut the cost of electricity bills. The State Government will bulk-buy at least 1000 solar systems and sell them back to Queenslanders.
It comes as Senator Wong again reinforced the need for nationally consistent renewable-energy targets. "Bringing existing state-based targets into one national target provides consistency for investors looking to support Australia's renewable energy industry," Senator Wong said, Energy Minister Geoff Wilson said: "The parameters of Queensland's feed-in tariff' are being finalised."
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