Companies have vested interest in poor results

Age
Monday 1/3/2010 Page: 10
Opinion

IN HIGHLIGHTING the unfortunate experiences some people have had with solar energy ("Turning off solar", The Age, 27/2) Mark Hawthorne and Mathew Murphy overlook the positive experiences of thousands of others. Although I also experienced a billing problem following the installation of my system, it was quickly resolved.

More than 60% of the power produced by my 1.5 kW system has been exported to the grid and my last electricity bill was in credit. By paying a little attention to the way electricity is used in the home, high levels of power export are possible even with relatively small systems. The real problems relate to the practices of retailers and distributors. It is worth noting that it was an unidentified spokesman for an unidentified power distributor who was talking down the performance of solar energy systems.

The allusion to "cheap imports" also overlooks the fact that all solar panels installed in Australia are imported and that they, along with installers, need to comply with the strict standards imposed by the government and electricity distributors. The denial of off-peak electricity to householders installing solar energy by some distributors smacks of sour grapes. It is to be hoped that regulators take note and ensure that retailers and distributors do the right thing by customers who are doing the right thing by the environment.

Alistair McCaskill, Box Hill North