Herald Sun
Wednesday 8/4/2009 Page: 8
HOUSEHOLDS with solar panels will be discouraged from being energy efficient under proposed legislation, environment groups warn. The Victorian Government's feed-in tariff scheme would see people who installed rooftop solar panels paid with power bill credits for energy they put back into the grid, rather than cash, as in other states.
If the credit is not used after 12 months, it expires. Andrew Rothfield, of Hawthorn, estimates he will produce at least $500 worth of power more than he'll use each year. "We are a pretty normal household so it seems the reality is that most households' credit will greatly exceed their power usage," Mr Rothfield said. "It cost $22,000 for us to install this system and we thought there would be some return on that investment."
Alternative Technology Association advocate Damien Moyse said there was no incentive for people to contribute extra power to the grid. "There is almost a perverse incentive to consume as much energy as you can so that you don't lose out," Mr Moyse said. But Energy and Resources Minister Peter Batchelor said most households would use all the power they produced.
He said providing credits rather than cash payments made Victoria's feed-in tariff scheme "more robust". "The Brumby Government is not prepared to support a scheme that allows people who can afford panels to make huge profits at the expense of more vulnerable members of the community, particularly in these times of global financial difficulties," Mr Bachelor said. "Our scheme promotes energy conservation and encourages people to be better managers of their energy use."
0 comments:
Post a Comment