The Newman Government has axed the 8 cent feed-in tariff, and as of July, 40,000 solar homes, and all future solar owners in Queensland, will have to negotiate directly with retailers to receive any return for the energy they provide into the grid.
In our recent meeting with Energy Minister Mark McArdle, he stated that because of high uptake of solar, retailers will have to offer a fair price for solar, as they will be be uncompetitive if they don’t. But, our experience with NSW, where families are receiving very small feed-in tariffs after negotiating with retailers, proves this otherwise. When pressed, Minister McArdle had no clear response as to how the Newman Government would guarantee that a fair price would be provided by retailers.
Although Minister McArdle had no answers on dealing with retailers, thanks to suggestions from many of you, we have a few options. We could continue to fight for fair legislated feed-in tariffs, or we could look into the option of bringing thousands of solar owners together to use our market power and negotiate a good deal with the energy retailers. Both options will use time and energy, so we'd like your thoughts on what the best use of our campaign resources. Let us know what you think below!
Showing 370 reactions
A: I’m on stand alone power due to my remote location from the power grid. I stand with grid connected citizens but do we standalone proponents of solar also stand to benefit from rebates on systems since for us the cost of replacing batteries and solar components is 100 %.
A: No.
A: Yes.
A: Maybe.
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A: Yes.
A: The solar industry was started with incentives to alleviate the need to build new power stations. With the success of solar, that has happened. Now the government is trying to prop up its power industry at the expense of solar owners. Does it make sense to prop up an industry that causes pollution and remove incentives for solar owners? Not to me.
A: No.
A: No.
A: Yes.
A: Maybe.
A: The questions you put are unsupported with information on how to proceed. I understand political pressure but I do not understand on what basis we could collectively put pressure on the electricity industry to reasonably accept solar energy inputs at a fair price. There is a contradiction in how you expect this industry to respond and what it has shown it intends to do.
A: No.
A: I think as well as a marketing block you should also definitely try to form a voting block.
A: I think as well as a marketing block you should also definitely try to form a voting block.
A: Maybe.
A: Need to keep pressure on the government and politicians.
A: Maybe.
A: No.
A: No.
A: Yes.
A: We don’t yet have solar, so we are keen to get a good deal when we install on the house we are about to buy!
A: Yes.
A: I object to feed in tariff removal. I am inclined to think about saving and buying a battery back up plus a wind turbine as a back up and disconnect from the grid altogether. If we all did that what do you think the impact would be. I know that the batteries aren’t cheap.
I want the power generators and supply line owners to know that they have bled their resources to a level where the repair is so costly, just like greedy landlords. If we own a car or any other machinery we need to maintain it to get the optimum performance for the lifetime of it. We also need to plan for the replacement at some time. In business this is called asset management.
A: We have nothing to threaten energy companies with. We can put enormous pressure on politicians, e.g. name and shame them, telling the world that they are against renewable energy, tell them they will lose lots of votes, etc. etc.
A: Maybe.
A: No.
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A: No.