We believe that compromise on this important and unprecedented issue is wrong and will undermine the entire solar industry and destroy consumer and investor confidence in both the NSW government and Solar Industry.
Our position is clear, remain vocal with a unified common message: No to retrospective changes regardless of the deal, compromise or compensation won’t do. The issue is deeper than a simple financial equation, although this is important. It’s about governments honoring contracts and delivering a message that people can trust government and invest into renewable energy in NSW with secure returns. As an industry we continually ask for consistency in government support and legislation.
Barry O’Farrell has attempted to placate the industry and consumers announcing hardship-provisions-for-solar-bonus-scheme in a press release on Tuesday 24 May. Mr O’Farrell announced that they would continue to move to pass this legislation through parliament before the winter break. He announced that the government would offer compensation for people in genuine hardship and “to make sure people recoup the money they put into purchasing the solar panels” Compensation for the cost of the installation isn’t enough, people invested money in solar expecting a return and security, this money could have been invested elsewhere for a similar return. We believe every person who installed solar will suffer financial hardship as a result of this change, people will be $0.20/kWh poorer than before if this legislation is passed.
What can we do?
We believe that a clear consistent message is required and that is: No to retrospective change.
We would encourage you to focus your attention on primarily lobbying the upper house. Due to the balance in power it would appear that only the upper house can stop this legislation being passed. We need to lobby the 4 independents, 2 from the Christian Democrats and 2 from the Shooter and Fishers Party. We also recommend lobbying Catherine Cusack who sits in the upper house for the Liberal government but has expressed major concern to the changes and encourage her to cross the floor on this matter.
You can use our list of key local and upper house parliament contacts, we also have a link to the full contact list of all upper house members. Once on our website, simply click on the email link and copy and paste your letter and then hit send.
We believe along with The Australian Solar Energy Society (AuSES) and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) that there is a solution that is a win for NSW households and a win for the government without the need for retrospective change. The following letter was sent to all MP’s and parties in government by AuSES. View the Smart Solar Strategy here.