So i have come across this news. Thought i would share it with fellow OZBargainers and get their opinions, Are we likely to get flooded with alot of deals for Solar/Solar+Battery?
I reason why it got my attention is because i have always wanted to get the solar panels installed, maybe 5kw. And when we get these benefits, i think i would be down to get it installed just before summer.
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-08-19/victorians-to-get-half…
"here's some of your* money back if you buy our associates' products"
*If you are a tax payer.
It's tax payers' money to begin with. Why should I feel grateful for getting my own shit back.
Be grateful they aren't pissing it away on another feasibility study on fast rail to Sydney or Avalon or a second Metro tunnel or something else that is a good idea but will never ever be funded. Or even worse, funding something that is useless (westgate tunnel).
I… Wow.
I'm depressed now. Thanks
Just be careful with Solar folks. I have contacts high up in Control (I won't give you his name, but he goes by codename Agent 86) - Russian and American governments, in a project with Google Maps and Elon Musk are close to installing a massive worldwide sunblocker (a la Mr Burns off Simpsons from years ago) and will be charging exorbitant amount to other governments to use sunlight in future.
This is Labor trying to get traditional Labor voters who are voting Greens to come back to Labor. I'm not one of them but this is a great offer and I will take it up
As if home owners aren't getting enough tax and welfare breaks.
Has the poor old renter even got Rudd-insulation in their old fibro sweatboxes? No- let them turn up the air con and pay their big power bills- whingers.
So another container load of cheap Chinese panels get dumped on the Australian market at exorbitant prices.
Installation companies spring up overnight, install them, and then vanish or phoenix when the inverters and panels start to die.
It's only giving more work to Indian call centres with their incessant phone calls every day trying to sell the panels.
Just another Pink Batts vote buying bid.
Anyone know how this works with the Australia-wide STC solar rebate (about $600 per kw installed)? Its federal i think, so does it stack with the VIC stuff? I'm in NSW though so dont qualify for the VIC stuff, but been seriously considering solar for a while.
Good point. STC prices will tank. Will create a opportunity for anyone with the authority to buy them up cheaply and list them in the clearing house.
It'll stack although the STC targets are set to reduce from 2021 (I think) to zero by 2030. It's also been flagged to be axed as part of the NEG (although hard to say given the current circus).
My understanding is that they're presently reducing at a rate of 1/15th per year for the next 10+ years. So "going away" but very very slowly. That's until some other legislation changes this..
Typical stop go stop go short sighted BS for votes. Would be better applying a 10% consistent grant rather than hitting the industry with massive tax payer funded demand leaving the operators in the green.
There are a few problems with this plan: people renting properties usually cannot benefit, and anyone in an apartment can never benefit. It only lowers the price of electricity during the day, and does nothing to alleviate power prices when people come home and switch on the heating/cooking in the evening.
I generally support power solar panels being installed in Australia (I have 5kw myself, which have long ago paid for themselves), but rolling this plan out as a solution to high power prices is half baked.
Daytime feeds back to the grid. It's better than nothing imho…
Just build a f'kin HELE and stop making people choose between heat or food.
How much will building one of those cost each household on their electricity bills?
I had already scheduled solar install next week. This came just in time. Added bonus!!!!
Who is your installer? I'm just trying to find someone to help me navigate through the hoops I have to jump through to make sure I get this rebate. I don't want it installed, have paid for it, then get told I am not getting a rebate on a technicality.
Glen clarko
I understand the current advertised prices are heavily subsidised already (by the solar company reducing the actual cost with the energy credits, etc).
Will this 50% be off the current advertised prices?
Scumbag socialist government handing taxpayer money out. I will probably put it on my roof, but what about the renters out there who are subsidising homeowners' solar? Not fair at all. Not that the scumbag reds are interested in fairness.
Wut?
The grant is only for owner/occupied
You complain about handouts but happy to receive them
Socialism is based on fairness. That's the whole point.
I think what freakatronic is saying is that it would be better to not have the subsidies in the first place. Just reduce the tax rate.
No one is going to turn away a subsidy, especially if they are actually paying more than others who receive the same subsidy.
You can't be against something so strongly that you classify it as scum. And with the other hand take in what those scumbags are handing out.
The reason we have to have the government deciding where the money goes is because we are notoriously bad at using it ourselves for important things. This is why countries that boast about lower taxes have terrible living conditions and zero middle class.
The big mining companies making mega profits receive over $300 million a year in tax credits from Australians. No noise about this.
Libs are the ones who will not aboloish negative gearing which is a subsidy
You seem to have forgotten that we had a Labor government for nearly 6 years and they did nothing to reduce negative gearing also I think Paul Keating abolished or massively cut negative gearing then reestablished it when the building industry and rental market started to collapse
The thing people don't get is the only real winners out of this entire "solar" boom is the energy companies… Unless you're directly using the energy you're essentially giving big energy companies free power to sell…. While you do see a decrease in your bill the savings still take many many years to even bring you even with the cost of the system. All these people who are like "solar is amazing! We don't even get a bill!" Forget their initial investment for the system… If you're in it for the long run great… Otherwise you're just helping the big guy.
The energy company buys your excess power..
yes for 15cents per kW then re-sells it for twice the price to others.
Agreed randolpg. I'm uncertain about this too.
Keep in mind that some people may be environmentally focused when looking at this and will get solar as a way of helping mother Gaia and reduce one's footprint on the environment though.
unfortunately it's not 15 cents the state gov dropped it to 10 cents in June
I find it interesting that the pay in rate an amount paid by power companies to people with solar was dropped so lowering their cost for power, then the Government offers to help pay people to put in solar, these companies will then buy the power at the new lower cost effectively using taxpayer funds to benefit large mainly foreign owed power companies with as far as i can see no financial return for the government
I'm sure my Hong Kong based landlord will be very interested in helping his tenants save money with Solar Panels
I suggest you read the info on the link.
Only owner-occupied are included.
I paid an advance 10% before the announcement but the installation date will be sometime in September 2018. Am I eligible for the rebate? I guess it is the installation date that counts for the rebate. But, eitherway any suggestion would be of great help. Thanks.
Check this one http://www.solar.vic.gov.au/
Under Am I eligible?
-> has had an eligible solar panel system installed on or after 19 August 2018
I think this one very important too
-> engages an installer who can provide a statement that they have not received a WorkSafe infringement notice in the past three years.
Hope it helps.
Great..thanks
In QLD, the story I hear often is that "rich" people who bought solar panels early, they get 40¢ a kW in feed in tariffs.
If you have managed to save up and can afford a home and buy them now, you get next to nothing in rebates.
And I hear that the "service" or "connection" component is skyrocketing.
Who owns their home anyway.
Like others said, home owners are already well off. They don't need this.
There are plenty of people with big mortgages that will gladly take this.
The way I read the announcement it $2225 for 65,000 houses per year for 10 years which just goes to show the economic credentials of this current Vic gov last year their were 42,000 installs in Vic at no cost to so an extra 23,000 installs on last year will cost us nearly $145million.
This after they reduced the pay in tariff lowering the incentive for people to pay for the system themselves and cost us as taxpayers nothing
…and we just got a 10kw system installed for around 14k three months ago. :(
It's worth it for those who use electric-city during the day and you have to change your habits to actually use it during this time or else it's sold back to the grid for not much (ie. You get charged say 25c per kw to purchase, then you pay back at say 15c a kw) makes sense to use the actual produced kw from your solar to something useful.
My suggestion is to get a battery-pack or storage unit (I think they're expensive atm) so the power can be used at a time when it is needed.
I'm still not certain whether it's worth it IMO but perhaps ROI will come in (aeons of) time.
PS. No I don't know what my bills are at the moment but am producing between 17kw lowest to 62kw highest this month. (PPS. this includes an existing 5kw system on the house already)
My suggestion is cryoto mining
Wait… So you have two systems for a total of 15kw on your property? How big is your hydroponic setup?
But seriously, Unless you were a commercial user of power that is way too much for a family home. Why would you do that? Why get such a big system and not contemplate a battery solution at the time?
Easy answer, big house and have parents, my sis & her daughter living all together with kids, wife & I - think multi-generational home. Something we're all happy with - yeah we're ethnics ;)
So electricity is always used ALOT as parents home during the day & then when the kids come home - plus thinking of a pool in future so thought why not. As to the lack of battery solution - my fault for going ahead without much planning on it. But the first thinking was to reduce the electricity bills (as parents pay that) and perhaps in future get a battery pack.(Something I'll contemplate probably much later).
No hydrophonics sadly, my stoner days are long gone :\
Ok, I can understand if you have 8+ people living in your house and they are there all day. Maybe get the parents to put some money away for a battery solution over a year or two ;)
Now we need a topic on which solar panels/ inverters to get, there is a lot of cheap rubbish out there,
fronious/bp???
I have a 10kw Fronious inverter with 36 Jinko 275 watt panels Polak. It was recommended that these are the better/best ones to get but I'd refer you to this site which I used when doing my comparisons. I'm happy with my setup for now.
Solar Quotes which shows what the best types of inverters, panels & roofing systems are.
N.B. I did not go through Solar Quotes but they were a good source of information.
I wish they focused on the home invasions instead
Unfortunately that would take actions not just words and spending our money
Don't tell Joe Hockey that, his solution will be to get a better job and move to a nicer suburb.
What's the bet panels cost double as soon as this comes into effect.
So, this policy is designed to add 2GW of peak power into a market (Victoria) that requires 4-6GW most of the time, stretching to 8-9GW during the extreme heat waves. What impact will this have on the profitability of the existing power stations? How much investment in network poles and wires will be required to support the increased amount of solar power flowing during the middle of the day (when many homes are empty as their owners are at work)? The cost of this policy could well be much more than $1.24b if it brings forward the closure of a Latrobe Valley generator, or requires more network spend; net impact for consumers would be higher prices, not lower. It's a big risk to take to further subsidise a mature technology that already has an attractive return on investment in many situations.
The poles and wires network needs massive investment anyway, this just brings it forward. It is kind of like telling car companies not to build EV cars because we don't have the network for it yet. Sometimes you just have to push ahead and deal with an oversupply problem down the track.
Would you prefer two for the price of one?
If they can mandate all new houses must have rain water tank collection, then I hope they can mandate solar power as well.
This is a positive step.
Oh god, another wave of Solar Panel sales calls. Please spend the money on better roads, highways, Lights on those highways. I can't believe large parts on Monash and Eastern freeways don't have lights on at night. What about the Airport train line?
Let the solar companies fight for their money. Competition is good and will bring prices down. Subsidies just inflate prices.
Why wasting money on lights on freeway? No one gonna walk there or ride in the days, even at night.
Because its pitch dark and visibility is crap at night. I don't want to drive into the back of a car because grandpa is doing 80Kms (in a 100 zone) with blown tail lights because he can't see past 50m. Not everyone has 20/20 vision.
Perhaps it is better you get someone else to drive at night if you have vision like mole man.
Yeah, serp is right, better get someone to do the job. even without tail light it is fairly easy to see reflection off the light cover and many other things.
Schemes such as this only benefit the seller. Before this scheme if a 5kw system cost 10k, it will now cost 14k, you save about 3ks as the gov is chipping in and don't give two hoots about it, because you saved. The seller on the other hand is now making more than 4k on his profit. Such ponzi shit has existed in the NT for years now - mostly for the construction mob though, which are, unsurprisingly, the biggest donors to the political parties.
I hope yous are very selective in who you go with. They have to do a neat job and make sure they don't screw up your roof along the way.
After receiving expensive power bill, I have decided to install solar panels on my roof. It physically got installed just a couple of weeks before this rebate is announced. My system is not even fully configured to sell electricity back and it keeps on having AC voltage too high errors several times most days and shut down anyway. Power Meter is yet to be configured. And now I am not eligible!
What's the definition of install anyway? To me mine is not even fully functional and installation is still incomplete. But Solar Victoria didn't think so.
I think most people included myself don't know how long it takes to get the system up and running and connected to the grid. It takes months.
Another problem is it is very common to have too high a AC voltage on sunny days due to all the solar panel pushing excess electricity back to the grid. New inverters are designed to shut down to protect themselves when voltage exceed 255v. Grid voltage is usually set towards the high end around 250v in my case to accommodate the voltage drop at the end of the power lines. They cannot reduce the voltage too much. Power company needs to ensure voltage in the range of 216v-253v from my research. But I am already seeing my inverter shutting down multiple times sometimes for hours every day. I cannot even imagine with this rebate encouraging thousands of solar panels install, how our grid could even handle the extra voltage! All Newly installed inverters would just shut down most of the sunny days where it should be on to generate electricity. It becomes a pointless exercise for these new install unless power company make massive investment to accommodate all this extra new install.
What the rebate should include is the battery. New solar system instead of selling electricity back they charge up your battery to be used at night. This would reduce the stress on the grid during sunny midday and people can use their own generated power at night. They are cost prohibitive and without some kind of subsidy, it would not make sense to install them.
Government really have no idea what they are doing and they never really do proper research for any policy. I am new to solar panels and sounds like I already know more than the government with their so called consultants/researchers group together.
I am sure if I go to buy one now they will add 5K to what you paid. I don't think you missed out. Its the vendor who would be fuming.
That's what I keep on telling myself to make it feel less upsetting too. Lol
Why isn't everything working? Isn't that all included in the cost of the install?
Well still waiting for the connection to the grid as I said it takes time.
With the voltage too high issue, that's a problem with the grid and not the inverter. So need to complain to the power distributor to get that fix but from my research a fix is not always possible due to supply demand.
After further research the code allows them to have 230v +10% -6% in less than 1 min ie 216-254v but,
It also allows in less than 10 sec +14% -10% ie 207-262v which is well above the inverter limit of 255v.
https://www.esc.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/Ele…
Just like yesterday on a sunny day during the most productive hours mine shut down for 2.5hrs of the roughly 10 hrs of sunlight. I estimate I lost about 40% of generation.
People who are considering solar should take something like this into consideration when they try to work out return on investment. Also research on how many solar system and how big they are around your area first as they can impact your ability to generate on a good day. No one told me these things before so I hope at least my experience can help others.
I actually meant 216-253v. Just a minor correction.
How do they determine if your household earns over $180k?
What if you jointly are over $180k but your partner is on unpaid maternity leave bringing you under the limit?
It should be safe to assume it's your expected income this year. Isn't maternity leave paid?
Read the guidelines I believe it is at last tax return?
Perfect timing. Locked into a good price for a 6.4kw Q Cells and Fronius scheduled to be installed in 2 weeks time. Before prices start creeping up and STC down? (my assumptions)
mind sharing installer and price?
Glen Clark. Will be around $6500 after all rebates and discounts.
thanks mate!
is it a battery ready system?
LOL. I have been wanting solar panels for years.
Finally can afford a lower end one but not a higher end one but decide not to due to dodgy nature of the cheaper installers.
Now they have this 50% rebate….in the year that we just hit over the amount.
Any good deals out there for solar? Seems like a lot of solar companies are jacking up the price.
Already? How much have they increased?
The article linked by OP suggests that all Vic residents (incl. renters) will benefit from lower electricity prices, without direct involvement.
Clever vote buying.