$2,000 - $5,000 SOLAR SHORT CHANGE: MEANS TEST CAPITULATION
The Member for Berowra, Philip Ruddock MP said today that local families will pay up to $5,000 more to install solar panels in their homes following today’s announcement by the Rudd Government. This is a $5,000 Solar Short Change.
“At present, the Coalition’s Solar Panel Rebate of $8,000 is combined with a Renewable Energy Certificate benefit of up to $1,500 to give a total assistance of $9,500 to mums and dads ‘going solar’,” Mr Ruddock said.
Now, the total package for installing a 1.5kw system will fall from this combined support of up to $9,500 to a maximum of $7,500. In anyone’s language this is a Solar Short Change of at least $2,000. .
This new announcement today is a further attack on the affordability of solar panels for mums and dads and Australian families who want to do the right thing by the environment.
The apparent removal of the means test however is a humiliating capitulation for Mr Garrett. Earlier this year the Government launched an attack on the ability of middle income families to install solar panels by denying access to affordable solar panels where mums and dads were on incomes of $51,000 each. We have waged a campaign for removal of the means test ever since.
“Under any circumstance, maximum solar assistance has dropped by a minimum of $2,000 from $9,500 to $7,500. By comparison, the Government has taken solar energy out of the hands of millions of Australian families this year and a $2,000 - $5,000 solar short change will only worsen that problem,” Philip Ruddock said.