Legislative Council

INTERVIEW: Radio Adelaide: State election campaign / Solar feeding tariff scheme

March 18th, 2010

(Godfrey: … one issue that seems to be conspicuous by its absence during the election campaign is that of SA’s solar feeding tariff scheme, the scheme that paid households a premium for electricity that was generated by solar panels in their roof was reviewed by the State Govt last year but as yet there’ve been no election announcements in regard to it from either Labor or Liberal on what’s likely to happen to the scheme and that has … Mark Parnell concerned)

Well not surprisingly for such an important review we have seen neither hide nor hair of it in the lead up to the election, the Greens big fear is that the govt is about to degrade the scheme by which solar panel owners get a reasonable return for the electricity they generate, we’re worried that the govt is proposing to make larger schemes ineligible and we’re also worried that the rates might be changed as well, so what the Greens are calling for is for both the major parties to come out and say what are you going to do to help renewable energy in SA, especially those householders who invest large sums to do the right thing by the environment and put solar panels on their roof

(Godfrey: So the Greens are hoping to get a stronger presence in the Upper House, what can you do following the election, can you do something?)

Well whilst the Greens only had one member in the Upper House we managed to shame the State Govt into vastly improving the original solar feed in laws, the govt was proposing a fairly mickey mouse approach that only lasted a few years, the Greens managed to get amendments through that saw the scheme go for 20 years, we also got amendments through to make sure it applied to not just small households but also to community groups and small businesses also, in fact all small consumers so if the Greens double or triple our representation in State Parliament, I think we’re going to be even more effective

(Godfrey: So clearly this is not likely to be a vote winning election issue … it’s been very quiet in the election, is that a disappointment that we could have moved forward and had a greater presence of solar generation?)

It is very hard to have all of the important issues front and centre, I think that all of those people who own solar panels or are thinking about having solar panels, they know whose batting for them in State Parliament, so I’m not worried that people don’t know what we’ve done, but it is disappointing that with climate change still the most pressing global issue that neither of the big parties are prepared to come out and say what they’re going to do to help ordinary households with solar panels do their bit for the environment

(Godfrey: Do you think that many people that may have been considering or in a position to put solar panels on their roof, are perhaps deferring any decision because there’s no clear idea of what’s going to happen post March 20?)

I think uncertainty is always bad for investment, I mean the Greens were pleased that we managed to get the scheme extended for 20 years, but what we don’t know is what the govt is going to do as a result of this review, and you’ve got to remember the review came about because the big electricity retailers were ripping off consumers and not paying them a fair price for the electricity, the green electricity that they were producing, so we managed to get the govt to have a review, but they’re sitting on it, we know that they’ve been sitting on it, without telling us before the election what their plans are, so I’m not normally a conspiracy theorist, I don’t like to expect the worst of govts but I’m very concerned that they’re going to degrade and devalue this system

(Godfrey: Do you know how long they have been sitting on that review, do you know when that was completed?)

We know that this report was finished at around Christmas time and the govt is still pretending that it’s an ongoing review, there is no reason why they can’t make a decision now about what their plans are for the future and tell the people of SA before the 20th March State election

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