Solar Citizens applauds the Queensland government’s Supercharged Solar for Renters rebate scheme, which opened for applications on Friday 12 December.
Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas said:
A rebate of $3,500 will encourage landlords to install solar panels on their rental properties and the eligibility criteria applying to tenanted properties of less than $1000/week means many rental properties could benefit.
Landlords need an incentive to install solar panels on their rental properties, and rebates have been the most effective way to encourage uptake of solar panels on owner-occupied homes, making Australia the world leader (per capita) in rooftop solar.
This is a good start but we need more state governments to work together with the Federal government, landlords and renters to come up with solutions to unlock Solar for Renters across the country.
That’s why Solar Citizens has started a national conversation on how to unlock solar for renters to generate solutions across the country for 1 in 3 Australians who rent - who are mostly locked out of the benefits that cheap clean energy that rooftop solar backed by storage currently provides to 4 million owner occupied homes.
Join the anonymous online Polis conversation to Unlock Solar for Renters.
In Queensland, better targeting towards lower income households together with energy efficiency upgrades (like blinds, draft controls and appliances like heat pumps) would see people who can least afford high energy bills benefit even more.
It is also encouraging that the Crisafulli government is rolling out the $116 million promised by the former labor government towards Social Housing Energy upgrades under the jointly federal funded Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative (SHEPI) program.