Victoria Stands Strong Against the Sun Tax as Other States Sit on the Fence
9 June 2021: Victoria Stands Strong Against the Sun Tax as Other States Sit on the Fence
The Victorian government has doubled down on their opposition to the Australian Energy Market Commission’s (AEMC) proposal to allow solar export charging, saying that enabling export pricing is not justified at this time.
In a new submission to the AEMC, the Victorian government requests that state and territory governments get the final say before solar owners can be charged in their jurisdictions.
In their submission, the Victorian government goes further by saying, “It is not clear why a charge that dissuades export of low-cost clean energy will deliver a net positive outcome for consumers.”
“We’ve seen Victoria, Queensland and now New South Wales indicate that they don’t want to see Australia’s solar homes and businesses slogged, but we’re yet to hear a clear position from Tasmania and South Australia,” said Ellen Roberts, Solar Citizens’ National Director.
“This proposal by the AEMC is shaping up to be a nightmare to implement. States will all have different rules and apparently consumers are meant to be charged differently depending on the time of day.
“How are consumers meant to keep up and respond to pricing signals? How are retailers going to pass on new network charges, when there’s no requirements outlined in the proposal? All of this is up in the air.
“It’s not clear at all how this complicated, and potentially costly, process of applying varying export charges will work in practice.”
Earlier this week Matt Kean told the AAP, “I don't want to see NSW households who have installed rooftop solar in good faith unfairly penalised”.
Queensland’s Energy Minister Mick de Brenni also shared his concerns with the AAP, saying, “these draft rules were proposed by a privatised network in South Australia to clean up a mess that was created by mismanaged private networks”.
He went on to say the new rules “could see a charge slapped on any household who wants to export their solar power into the grid”.
In Tasmania’s submission to the AEMC, they also supported a flexible approach that would allow jurisdictions to apply the National Electricity Market rules differently.
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Media contact: Ellen Roberts 0408 583 694
Submissions are available on the AEMC website here.
