Extract from ABC News
Updated
The Australian Solar Council says the Queensland
Premier is trying to demonise solar power to boost the value of
electricity assets ahead of their privatisation.
Premier Campbell
Newman said yesterday the Queensland Government would remove the cost of
the solar bonus scheme from electricity prices if it was re-elected, to
reduce the price of electricity.Mr Newman said the $3.4 billion Strong Choices Cost of Living Fund would be used to ensure Queenslanders would not have to subsidise the cost of solar through their power bills.
The money would come from the Government's recently backed $37 billion leasing asset plan.
But Australian Solar Council chief executive John Grimes said the strategy was flawed and Mr Newman's comments were "outrageous".
"He's using solar families in Queensland that have entered into a government scheme in good faith as political pawns to try and create pressure and vilify them, so he can sell off the electricity assets and get top dollar for them," he said.
Stop attacking the people of Queensland who entered into a government scheme in good faith. John Grimes, Australian Solar Council
"What the Premier is trying to do is basically demonise solar, say that solar PV really is the reason for electricity prices being so high in Queensland and for eroding the value of the electricity assets.
"Premier Newman should start to tell the truth - the cost of electricity increases in Queensland have been because of gold plating of the infrastructure, the poles and wires in Queensland.
"Our own research shows that the more solar you have on the grid in Queensland, the cheaper electricity prices become for everybody."
Federal MP Clive Palmer today criticised the State Government's privatisation agenda on social media, labelling the move a broken promise.
Mr Grimes said the business model of the major electricity retailers was broken, yet the State Government had chosen to champion that model.
"They've chosen to side with the vested interests of the big power companies, the existing status quo, and against the community - and that's really dumb politics," he said.
"The community see clearly what's happening and they'll react accordingly.
"Premier Newman said yesterday he would conduct an inquiry into the solar bonus scheme in Queensland.
"We've conducted our own inquiry and we found that in the first four months of the Newman Government, as much solar was installed as had been installed for the three years of the previous government.
"Stop attacking the people of Queensland who entered into a government scheme in good faith, who've invested their own capital in solar generation, which creates a benefit for the entire industry, for the entire public, by reducing the need for expensive infrastructure upgrades."
He said the termination of the Queensland Government feed-in tariff resulted in a short-term downturn in the uptake of solar power, but that Queenslanders were again investing in solar.
"Even though Premier Newman thinks solar energy is not worth anything and if it's fed into the grid it should just be a windfall profit for the government-owned utilities, despite that people know that installing solar is cheaper than buying electricity from the grid.
Mr Grimes said the solar industry would continue to grow while the price of electricity "continues to spiral out of control".
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