An image showing it's age, or perhaps the age of its subjects.If you haven't already heard of the solar rebate program it might be time to cast your eye over it - it's ending June 30.
The rebate scheme means you can score a solar system (no they're not offering you the earth, moon and stars)at no to very low cost. We've paid a refundable $2,500, a 1kWh system will be installed, and when all the paperwork is over, it will be returned, we're looking at a cost of around $450 for our energy provider to hook it up to the grid. It's part of the government committment to 20% renewable energy.
government rebates
If you follow the link it will show you all current government rebates, follow the solar systems and communities link to find a provider near you, contact them to see what they will provide, some people are clubbing together in communities and getting even better deals. Oh, you have to earn less than $100,000 per year. Not much of an issue for most of us plebs.
7 comments:
Thanks for this link. I'm off to work (at my less that 100K a year job teaching) but I'll look at this later today.
We are in this process too, I can't wait for it too happen. Mind you my roof is getting rather crowded with 2 solar hot water systems, a skylight and a satelite dish for our internet.
cheers Kate
We just got a 1 kW system as well. I love it! It really makes you aware of how much cost and effort it requires to generate electricity, and gives you a respect for using it efficiently.
We were told yesterday that the cut off date had been brought forward to this coming Thursday,
11th June. This was advice from one of the providers to the scheme.
JOC
Yep, it's officially dead in the water, not sure if we will be graced with panels or a return cheque. I know which one I'd rather.
Hi Linda - I was under the impression that the way the Aust. Government had rigged the system, going solar just meant that people who did their best to go green and conserve energy were making it cheaper for the dirty polluters, due to the carbon credit system. Or have I got it wrong?
If that's the case, though, is there a real benefit to going solar for the planet? Or should environmentally conscious people spend their cash in other ways to help the planet e.g. water tanks, insulation, putting in fruit trees, when there is a choice about what to do first if budgets are tight?
I'm not meaning to play devil's advocate here, it's just that I do remember reading that the Rudd government had basically undermined sustainable energy options with their crediting system. Maybe you can straighten the details out for your readers, if I have this wrong.
In the meanwhile, I'm glad I'm in NZ. It's easy to be renewable here - almost all our energy here in Otago is renewables, and it was easy to opt for 100% from our provider without having to buy our own solar panels :-) The government is busy building more wind turbines, and we're hoping that the percentage of renewable energy will continue to increase.
True Daharja, Rudd did undermine the system as you have said, they do (delete swear word) like shower the country in $10 billion to have what's been dubbed the 'Harvey Norman Xmas splurge', and then put something like $450 million (or something close to) into renewable energy subsidies - easy to see where the priorities lie.
However as the solar subsidy is investing in infrastructure that we can fall back on, so to speak, when those kind of self-defeating policies change, they're already in place.
It has also showed the Rudd government that Australians are keen to move to renewable energy with 80,000 applications - the scheme ran out of money early on. (the systems work out free or close to being free, so it was an easy decision to make for those wanting to prioritise $)
Tassie isn't too bad, we're mostly hydro and they're investing in more windfarms here too. It was one of the things that made Tassie attractive when we decided to come here.
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