‘Rich families don’t need to save money’: Why wealthy suburbs are less likely to have rooftop solar

Freestanding homes in wealthy and inner-city suburbs such as Woollahra in Sydney and Toorak in Melbourne are less likely to have rooftop solar than equivalent houses in the outer suburbs.

Climate Council analysis based on Australian Photovoltaic Institute data shows rooftop solar is on less than 20 per cent of detached and semi-detached homes in inner-ring suburbs, and above 30 or 40 per cent in many outer suburbs. The analysis excludes apartments.

The higher the household income in a postcode area, the less likely the homes are to have solar panels installed. This trend was true in areas with a high proportion of renters and with predominantly owner-occupiers.

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie said the data might seem surprising, but was probably related to how different households felt cost-of-living pressures.

“Energy bill savings is one of the main reasons people choose to install solar, but it appears that higher-income households are less motivated by these savings,” McKenzie said.

“Yet these households stand to save an average of around $1500 a year on their electricity bills by installing solar.”

Australia’s long-term energy strategy requires more household electrification, including solar panels, batteries and electric cars with vehicle-to-grid charging.

In Greater Sydney, rooftop solar penetration is low in the eastern suburbs, lower north shore and inner west. For example, only 11 per cent of houses in Edgecliff and Woollahra and 14 per cent of houses in Balmain and Rozelle have solar. Rose Bay, Double Bay, Stanmore, Annandale, Mosman and Cremorne are below 20 per cent.

In Greater Melbourne, most inner suburbs have less than 20 per cent solar take-up. Toorak has rooftop solar on just 9 per cent of detached or semi-detached homes and Kew has 18 per cent.

Wayne Smith, external affairs manager at Smart Energy Council, said another factor could be the higher number of new builds in outer suburbs.

“Solar is so cheap now that if you have just built a new house, it makes sense to have solar right from the get-go, and increasingly people are thinking about solar batteries in the same form,” Smith said.

John Bongiorno, group sales director at Marshall White’s Armadale office in Melbourne, said rooftop solar was included in most new builds, but he rarely saw it retrofitted onto established homes.

Bongiorno said the cost of energy was topical everywhere, but not wanting to damage or destroy the look of heritage slate or terracotta roofs was “most definitely, 100 per cent” a factor in suburbs such as Toorak.

“You don’t want to stick solar panels above your beautiful front door where it’s going to be an eyesore, and the terracotta or slate roofs on these Victorian, Edwardian, Federation and even Art Deco homes is generally a quality superior to your regular Colorbond roof,” he said. “A lot of those roofs are very delicate, and the cost of putting panels on a slate roof is very expensive.”

The Smart Energy Council confirmed installing panels on slate or terracotta cost more because the tiles could break, and drilling into the tiles produced silica dust, an occupational safety hazard.

‘It appears that higher-income households are less motivated by these savings.’

Climate Council chief executive Amanda McKenzie

Dr Rebecca Huntley, director of research at 89 Degrees East, said the typical purchaser of solar panels was a family with children, who used air-conditioning, owned a swimming pool and planned to stay in the house for several years.

“We do know that in places in the outskirts of town, so not in the inner city, it is much hotter,” Huntley said. “[In Sydney], it’s always hotter in Penrith than it is in Lilyfield. [In the outer suburbs] you’re also more likely to have new builds, with flatter roofs, but more space to put the panels, and potentially less overhang from buildings and trees.”

Huntley said participants in focus groups often said they would not get solar because they planned to move within three years, they were too time-poor to research and organise the panels, their house was not suitable for solar, or they already had low electricity bills because of their lifestyle or the design of their home.

Huntley also pointed out that high-income households did not always have high disposable income, and could feel mortgage stress because they lived in an expensive area.

Dan Cass, executive director of Rewiring Australia, said rooftop solar was a cost-of-living solution for poorer households.

“Rich families don’t need to save money on bills, which is why the mansions of Toorak and Woollahra rarely sport a super-sized solar array sufficient to offset their high-energy lifestyles,” Cass said.

“Culture warriors on the right tried to smear solar as an inner-city indulgence, but the suburbs ignored them and voted with their dollars.”

Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment. Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.