New Solar Milestone Reached As Households Try To Beat The Heat
A new solar milestone has been reached in Australia with 1.8 million households and businesses now generating their own clean power from rooftop solar says community group Solar Citizens.
"Rooftop solar is getting more and more popular across Australia with many people turning to solar to take back control of their spiralling power bills," says Shani Tager, Senior Campaigner at Solar Citizens.
Ian Fletcher is one Sydney local who depends on cost-cutting solar to beat the heat in summer.
“I decided to get solar after the cost of electricity went up 30 per cent,” says retired homeowner Ian Fletcher.
“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to work out that solar saves on power bills. My latest bill was $7.91.”
Ian credits the savings that he’s made with solar for being able to afford to run his air conditioning unit at night.
“I can sleep at night because my solar allows me to run the air conditioning unit in my bedroom. How else can you sleep in 30 degrees?”
Although, Ian concedes that he was lucky to be able to afford the upfront costs. “I think everyone would like to have solar, though how is a low-income person supposed to afford a solar system? What about elderly people? Some pensioners can’t afford it.”
Solar Citizens is calling on all Governments to do more to enable low-income households, apartment dwellers and renters to access the benefits of solar.
“There are simple steps Governments can take to boost access to solar, like no interest loans, incentives for landlords and rolling out solar panels on public housing stock,” said Ms Tager.
“Helping more households go solar won’t just benefit individual power bills – our Solar Savings report showed that rooftop solar benefits all energy consumers by reducing peak grid demand.”
“Our report found that without small-scale solar pumping out clean power, the wholesale price of power in NSW would have been 33-50% higher, which works out to a saving of between $2.2-3.3 billion in one year alone.”
“Government policies that help more households go solar bring power prices down for everyone.”
ENDS
Media contact: Stephanie Gray 0425543006
