News

Labor must admit to solar rebate mistake

12 July 2019

The Andrews’ Labor Government is slowly killing the solar industry with a badly thought out policy and process that is the Solar Homes Package.

Nationals Member for Ovens Valley Tim McCurdy said it was time for Daniel Andrews to admit that he got it wrong and make some drastic changes to a scheme that is affecting the livelihoods of Victorian businesses.

“After solar panel rebates were stopped in April, applications opened again on 1 July but were all gone in three days,” Mr Curdy said.

“Solar Victoria are only approved a maximum of 3,333 rebates and if you didn’t get in you now have to wait until the 1 August for applications to reopen again.

“Not only did sales and installations decrease for businesses between April and July as customers waited for rebate applications to open again, but now the same thing is going to happen for the rest of July and probably each month after that.

“This means no sales, no installations, no income, and eventually - no business.”

“I am being contacted on a regular basis by retailers expressing concern about the future of the industry, and by customers who are missing out on rebates because of the clumsy application process and red tape."

Mr McCurdy said that he had received information that there could possibly be 10,000 solar rebate quotes backed up in the system awaiting processing.

“Customers are not able to able to buy a solar system before that rebate is approved. So if those figures are correct then anyone out there who wants to apply could be waiting over three months before they are even get a look in for a rebate,” he said.

Mr McCurdy said that the Clean Energy Council (CEC), the peak body for the clean energy industry in Australia, has also raised concerns with the Labor Government about their approach to the entire rebate program and have requested a review of the scheme.

“The CEC has made it clear that they believe the Government’s handling of this scheme is creating substantial uncertainty in the residential solar market in Victoria, and have been calling for better management of the program since the program was first closed in April.”

Mr McCurdy said that Daniel Andrews had a duty to all Victorians to admit that the rebate scheme was a rushed out election promise that now needed attention and re-work.

“There needs to be some accountability taken here. And as Premier, this lies solely with Daniel Andrews.”