Strawbale House

The new budget introduced a damper for the solar industry by now applying a means test to the eligibility of up to $8,000 government rebates for the installation of a residential solar power installation. The means test to be introduced shortly means that any household having a combined annual income of over $100,000 per year will not be eligible for the government rebate any longer.

The introdcution of this means test, at the level proposed, is disappointing and confusing as other measures proposed in the new budget, especially around family tax benefits, are means tested at $150,000 per household. Why introduce means testing at two different levels for different benefits?

As reported in The Age the solar industry is already suffering, with 50-70% of orders were being ditched as a result of the means test, leaving companies with millions of dollars of lost business. In fact some businesses already needed to cut jobs due to the surge in cancelled orders and more jobs are expected to go.

This probably makes the solar system my wife and I want to install on our new home less affordable as most likely we won’t pass the means test and won’t be able to claim a government rebate.

If the government rebate is not sustainable, maybe the government should instead ensure that the feed-in tariffs for grid connected solar installations is more attractive as highlighted by Hans Josef Fell, the German Greens’ energy spokesman in this article in The Age.

A recent news item on the Alternative Technology Association website (www.ata.org.au) highlights some improvements that should be made to the feed-in tariff in power across Australia. A feed-in tariff is the mandated price a home owner is paid for any electricity fed back into the electricity grid from their solar panel installation or other sustainable energy production.

Judging form the article on the ATA website it seems like the government is again siding with the big corporations and only paying lip service to home owners with sustainable electricity production systems.

At this point, both my wife and I, are seriously wondering if we should even bother connecting our new house to the grid or just be completely self sufficient. We reckon the money saved by not connecting to the grid can be better spent on increasing the number of batteries or solar panels for the solar system we want to install anyway.

Any feedback is welcome in the comments section of this post.