Andrews’ solar panel scheme like Rudd batts disaster, says opposition

Victoria’s pledge to provide discounted solar panels to households has drawn parallels with Kevin Rudd’s failed home insulation scheme.

The Victorian government says its scheme will save a typical household up to $2225 on installation and $890 a year on electricity bills.

Victoria’s $1.24 billion pledge to provide heavily discounted solar panels to thousands of households has drawn parallels with the former Rudd government’s failed home insulation scheme, amid fears it could attract dubious operators and lead to safety risks.

Responding to the Labor government’s pre-election announcement yesterday, opposition energy spokesman David Southwick called on Premier Daniel ­Andrews to explain how it would safeguard families “from being scammed by telemarketers and dodgy installers … that will flood the system under this scheme”.

“Daniel Andrews’s solar panel election promise sounds a lot like Kevin Rudd’s pink batts disaster,” Mr Southwick said, referring to federal Labor’s home insulation program that was scrapped in 2010 after four installation workers died.

“This is ‘Pink Batts mark 2’ — it failed the first time and it is at risk of failing again.”

While the government moved to allay such fears, claiming that the scheme would be overseen by an independent authority to ­ensure the highest safety standards, the push to have 650,000 owner-occupied households install solar panels comes after the Australian Competition & Consumer Commission recently called for solar rebates to be phased out by 2021.

Releasing a blueprint on July 11 to ­reduce electricity prices, the ACCC argued that government subsidies for household solar had been a well-intentioned but misguided policy. Solar schemes were too generous, unfairly disadvantaged lower-income households and had failed to adjust to the changing economics of household solar, it said.

Labor has predicted that its scheme, which will provide owner-occupiers with a 50 per cent rebate on the cost of installing a solar panel system and ­interest-free loans to repay the balance over four years, will bring the number of homes across the state with solar panels to one million within 10 years. It is open to households earning up to $180,000 a year and homes valued at less than $3 million.

In an unashamed play to voters’ cost-of-living concerns, Mr Andrews said the scheme would save a typical Victorian household up to $2225 on installation and $890 a year on electricity bills.

“We know the cost of living is going up and it’s getting harder to make ends meet,” the Premier said. “That’s why Labor is helping families with their energy bills.”

Mr Andrews also took a swipe at the federal government over the status of the national energy guarantee and ongoing infighting within the Coalition over power prices.

“I honestly can’t give an ­answer on whether we will or won’t support whatever they’re proposing in Canberra because it just keeps on changing,” he said.

“When we’ve got some detail, when we’ve got a final position agreed to by the commonwealth, we’ll look at it carefully.”

Mr Southwick described the state government’s announcement as a “thought bubble” that would do little to help Victorians who were struggling and could not afford to install solar panels.

“Victorians are the highest taxed in Australia and it’s being used to fund programs like this that have a track record of failure,” he said. “Daniel Andrews’s answer to his high power bills is to ask ­people to spend more money.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation welcomed the initia­tive. “The Victorian solar homes plan will be good for our climate, good for clean energy, and good for household power bills,” ACF climate change program manager Gavan McFadzean said.

“Driving more renewables into the system is the best way to cut climate pollution and electricity prices, while adding stability to the national grid.”

Additional Reporting: AAP