Coalition wins access to solar feed-in tariff for local community groups and businesses

Community groups, schools and small businesses across Boroondara and Whitehorse will now be entitled to obtain a premium tariff rate for installing solar panels, under changes the Victorian Coalition has achieved to the state government’s solar feed-in tariff scheme.

Under the scheme as announced by the government, only homes would have had access to the premium tariff of 60c/kWh. However, under an agreement negotiated on behalf of the coalition by Shadow Energy Minister and local MP, Robert Clark, the government has amended the scheme so that businesses, schools, community facilities and other non-residential customers can qualify for tariff.

The scheme will now cover all non-residential solar panel facilities as long as the customer’s annual electricity consumption at the premises is less than 100MWh, equivalent to an annual electricity bill of around $15,000.

The government also agreed to increase the size of the solar panel facility that will quality for the tariff from 3.2 kW to 5 kW. This will mean that around 99% of systems installed in Victoria will be covered by the scheme.

“These changes secured by the Liberal-Nationals coalition will mean that most small to medium size businesses, schools, kindergartens and community groups in Boroondara and Whitehorse, as well as many local government premises will be able to take part in the solar feed-in scheme,” Mr Clark said

“This is a significant step forward in promoting the take-up of solar electricity throughout Victoria, and a substantial improvement on the highly restrictive scheme announced by the government.

“It provides an encouragement for community organisations across Boroondara and Whitehorse to get involved with installing solar panels.

“I am disappointed that the government has insisted on continuing to exclude residential premises other than principal places of residence from the scheme, and would only increase the maximum solar facility size to 5kW rather than 10kW.

“We also attempted to negotiate to change the scheme from a net scheme to a gross scheme at a tariff rate that would not require an unreasonable cross subsidy from other customers. Unfortunately, we were not able to obtain agreement to such a change.

“However, we have had to negotiate in the face of repeated government threats that they would abandon the feed-in tariff scheme altogether if it was amended in a way they deemed unacceptable.

The scheme has also been amended to guarantee that the cost of the scheme to other electricity customers will not exceed an average of $10 a year per customer, and to require information about the operation of the scheme to be published annually.

The government has also incorporated into Hansard written commitments from two major Victorian retailers that they will on request pay cash to customers for any net credits that customers may earn under the feed-in scheme.

However, the scheme remains a net scheme, rather than a gross scheme as sought by many environmental groups. This means that the solar electricity is used first to meet the customer’s own use, and the scheme’s tariff is only paid on the excess which the customer feeds into the power grid. Under a gross scheme, all of the power from the solar panels is fed into the grid and is paid for at the scheme’s tariff. The customer then separately purchases electricity from their retailer for the customer’s own use.

“Throughout the debate on this legislation, the Coalition parties have sought outcomes that are both constructive and responsible – constructive in removing artificial and unnecessary restrictions from the scheme, and responsible in not imposing unreasonable costs on other electricity customers.

“Although we believe the scheme could have been improved even more if the government had been willing to do so, what we have been able to achieve will make the scheme better and fairer than it was,” Mr Clark said.