The Clean Energy Council has called for an urgent review of the Victorian Solar Homes Program.
While the CEC supports the principle of the Victorian Government’s Solar Homes program to encourage the take-up of solar, we share the industry’s concerns about the way it is currently being operated. Instead of supporting the industry it is distorting the market, creating boom-bust cycles, and having a negative impact on many in the industry.
Our key suggestions for change include a reduction of the income threshold and reduction of the property value threshold as alternative ways of managing excess demand. We are calling for the government to commence a review of the program by the end of this week.
We have been fielding calls and emails from installers and solar businesses for the last few weeks about the effect that the government’s management of the program is having. It is ridiculous to have a situation where a program with a month-by-month quota filled up in the first three days of July, with the same outcome expected in the August round.
While we support the intention of the program, it is obvious that the way it is being run is having a serious effect on the industry. Things need to change – fast.
The Clean Energy Council continues to collect concerns from installers and solar businesses affected by the program and will be taking a delegation of affected installers, members and retailers to meet with the Victorian Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change.
We continue to work on this issue as a matter of priority.
