Clean, Cheap Energy for All

Help all households access the benefits of clean, cheap power.

The big energy corporations are making a mint as our household power bills continue to spiral out of control.

Across the country, everyday Australians have cottoned on to the fact that the only guaranteed way to take back control of rising power bills is to invest in cost-cutting rooftop solar.

We all deserve access to renewable energy—and the financial and environmental benefits that go with it—but for many households there are barriers in the way of them joining the rooftop revolution.

We’re calling on state and federal governments to address the obstacles that hold back renters, people who live in apartments and low-income households from making the most of Australia's abundant sunshine. After all, solar on a sunny roof just makes sense.

Who is affected?

People with low disposable incomes, or who live in public housing, often struggle to pay for the upfront cost of solar, even though they would benefit the most from generating their own cost-cutting power. Likewise, renters and people who live in apartments face unique obstacles when it comes to being able to soak up the solar savings.

Low-income households

Many of Australia’s lowest income and most vulnerable households have been unable to afford energy efficiency upgrades or household solar, leaving them exposed to soaring and often unaffordable bills. As the Australian Council of Social Services puts it, for the estimated 13.3% of Australians living in poverty, “energy affordability is a growing, and sometimes crushing, problem.”

Access to electricity, like access to healthcare, is an essential service. With abundant sunshine, affordable electricity should be seen as part of our common wealth, a benefit to which we all contribute and can all share.

The households most impacted by rising electricity costs include many groups who are more likely to be home during the day and would thus benefit most from rooftop solar electricity. However, due to the fact that many low-income households rent, have credit rating issues, and/or live in apartments, they are too often locked out of the clean energy revolution.

Renters and apartment-dwellers

Renters often bear an additional burden of high energy bills from inefficient homes they have no ability to improve. Currently, private renters are the cohort least likely to be able to access the benefits of solar, particularly if these renters are low-income and live in an apartment.

Small businesses that rent their premises face additional hurdles, with retail electricity price hikes much higher than those compared to increases faced by households.

Sign the petition

Dear Member of Parliament,

We call on all political parties to commit to making clean energy accessible for all Australians. To achieve this we want you to:

Commit to solar power for one million rental homes.
Make it easy for people who live in apartments to harvest the clean energy from our abundant sunshine.
Help low-income households slash their power bills by making cost-cutting solar more accessible.

Your sincerely,