Government & Politics

solar panels

Government & Politics

Posted by: silvester

14th Jun 2011 01:14pm

Here we go again,They tried to break a 7 year contracts with people who got solar panels ,The government didn't win against the people,So the government takes the next step ,Lets put the cost of power up so everyone can pay for all the contracts, another stuff up government you win again UNTILL THE NEXT ELECTION


mysteron347
  • 28th Aug 2012 12:46am

Sadly, silvester doesn't say to which of our NINE governments this complaint refers. Ash and minnie seem to believe it's the FEDERAL government but the basic complaint is the "I've got a contract" whine about the solar power farce in NSW.

Let's look at the history.

In 2005, the federal liberal government introduced their solar power subsidy. It was set at an $8,000 limit - or about 40% of the price of a standard unit at that time.

Up to then, and for two years after, people were quite happy with the existing arrangements. The meter ran forwards when power was consumed from the grid (like at night) and backwards (or at least, slower) during the day when the units were generating power.

The incoming federal government maintained the subsidy at $8,000 - oblivious to the fact that the world market price for generators had fallen from nearly $20,000 in 2005 to closer to $6,000 in 2009. Solar installers sprang up on every street corner, frantically signing up customers for FREE - since they were making $2,000 on each sale. The federal government panicked and closed the scheme early because of the flood.

Then some fool of an accountant pointed out that during the day, people were effectively being paid by the power authority for the amount they returned in excess of their usage. BUT they're not entitled to the GST component of that payment, since they're not registered for GST. The difference, of course is merely CENTS per day.

Naturally, the politicians couldn't resist the revenue grab, since it would also mean they could simultaneously justify a publicly-funded advertising campaign "proving" their "environmental credentials."

To prove what good guys these politicians really are, they entered into contracts to entice the voters to install the systems. These contracts put a totally unrealistic reward on power generated. The wholesale price is about 7c/unit - and some of the contracts paid 60c or more per unit generated from solar installations.

This was a transparent vote-buying exercise from state governments that were on the nose and facing re-election. They were well aware that their opposition would have to deal with the unrealistic rates they offered, not them. And their opponents would cop the flak for attempting to change the arrangements - as we see from the complaints.

So - rather than simply whinging about it and waving your contract around, how about coming up with a positive suggestion about how to deal with "government from opposition" - where an unpopular government deliberately enters into a contract that binds their opponents for the purposes of vote-buying from the gullible and crippling the economy with which the incoming regime has to deal?


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