The Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) has released their controversial plan to charge solar owners for exporting clean energy back to the grid, effectively a tax on the sun.
Now, the AEMC is calling for final submissions from the public on whether a sun tax is a good idea. Make sure you have your say by sending in a submission to the AEMC using our handy form below.
Here are some points you might want to include in your submission:
- Research from the Victoria Energy Policy Centre shows that the benefit solar owners provide to all energy consumers far outweighs added network costs. Rooftop solar drives down the wholesale price of electricity and can provide network benefits by supplying local energy.
- Research conducted by UNSW for the Energy Security Board shows that the impact of solar on the networks has been overestimated.
- There are better ways to future-proof the grid for more solar, like investing in household and community batteries and electric vehicles.
- The new rules give too much power to networks and don't have strong enough protections to stop solar consumers being ripped off. Networks will still be able to limit solar exports.
- We should be encouraging more rooftop solar not penalising people who invest in solar in good faith to cut their energy bills and do their part for the environment. Solar export charges could slow down solar uptake and Australia's transition to renewable energy.
If you have rooftop solar, you can add the impact that charging you for solar exports would have on your household.
**Submissions via Solar Citizens have now closed.**