'Kick in the guts': Solar panel owners could soon pay the price for going green | A Current Affair

we don't expect to be punished when we do the right thing but soon millions of homes and businesses will pay the price for going green if you've got solar you'll have to pay power companies to store it pre charging come on guys stay for a couple of hours are for real is it for free yes it's for free mate please stay a couple hours I'll make a cup of tea just hang around okay top me up Marcus is on a mission Take the Lead use anything okay to give away his power I'll get it back about 6 7:00 all right okay thank you Marcus before he's charged for it you probably can't stop looking at that thing it's like a taxi meter it's sucking money Marcus calls it it's the great solar stitch up that leads all the way to the halls of power in camber mate would you like some free Power I got too much solar power and this crusading customer isn't alone this is a kick in the guts for the everyday Australian who's been looking after their bottom line it appears nearly every man in his dogs about to cop it in the socket only 3 hours to go baby good girl okay Betsy is not hitting the treadmill for 3 hours am Marcus isn't drying a lone sock this is a bit ridic ridiculous isn't it I tell you what's ridiculous is it pains to point out a looming power problem it's ridiculous now that they encourage us to do solar for 15 years and now they're going to smack us if we want to export it 3 and a half million Aussie homes and businesses are like many power stations till now these solar converts have been receiving money from power companies for every extra kilowatt of electricity they send to the grid but soon a solar switch will be flicked and it'll be the power punters who pay we're being punished for doing the right thing following the government's recommendation getting a rebate getting solar and now at the end of the road suddenly I'm being the cash cow for the energy retailers it appears the electricity Network can't handle the influx of power being sent to the grid the network needs upgrading and solar consumers will foot the bill since 2006 solar has grown exponentially so somebody in the planning department for the energy Network could have worked out 10 years ago that we're going to be in this position here right now but they did nothing about it has the government been asleep at the wheel I think that the uptake of solar has occurred at a pace that um has probably exceeded expectations all around um so I do think we are catching up Anna colia is the chair of the Australian energy Market commission I'm doing nothing with was not really an option the grid would get congested no more solar would be able to be exported and we'd actually be in a worse position for everyone the tax word is not a good word incentive is a good word Kathleen's a solar industry Pioneer she fears the controversial new Livy could kneecap and stallers and suppliers I'm terrified to find out what it might do hopefully it won't it won't kill them don't use the carrot in the stick just use the carrot you know incentivize people to use their self-c consumption customers can avoid the new charges by exporting their solar during peak times or Fork out thousands of dollars for Batteries to store their power I don't need it because I got the soda there they paid me to do the right thing by the environment to create renewable energy and now they're smacking us hard not to give it to anybody because they want to charge for it it's it's crazy Marcus is calling on energy Minister Chris Bowen to step in mate would you like some free Power I got too much solar power no taker for the free Power and look while the mess has not grown on Minister bones watch he's the energy Minister I'd love him to fix it so this is the petition that we're asking people Action Group solar citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas would also like an audience with with the energy Minister we've been knocking on the door for Mr Bowen to present that petition to him and so far he's refused basically the energy companies are wanting to start charging people for sunlight that's just not fair what's your response to slogans out there like solar tax Our obligation is to serve the long-term interest of consumers as a whole so at the end of the day I feel it's unhelpful to wrap it up in something that's simplistic in that way I'd like to know what we're Scar and mongering about I think that it's quite legitimate for people to be questioning whether those that investment that they've made can suddenly be taxed it's up to the state governments to bring in the Solar export tariffs the expectation is the average solar home will be about $70 worse off but they'll still save around $900 a year on power bills well it's a few cents now but we know energy retailers it starts here and it ends up there and by the time it ends up there with the size of the system I have it's going to be a damn lot of money out of my pocket which is why Marcus's prank to plow through his power as fast as he can might not be so ridiculous after [Music] all it doesn't exactly inspire people to join the renewable future does it and we reached out to the energy Minister who said the new rules were ticked off by the previous government

Channel: A Current Affair

Views: 285,678

Keywords: a current affair, a current affair reporter, a current affair australia, channel 9 news, 9 news australia, australia news, world news, australian news, channel 9

Id: o1Awo9GQrH4

Length: 6min 11sec (371 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 11 2024