YOUR SAY: Warm reception for solar scheme

LOW income earners can get a great leg up when a little strapped for cash.

BOOST: Solar energy installation is bound to get a boost with the State Government announcement of interest free loans to help struggling families out. Picture: Mike Knott BUN020718SOLAR3

SOMETIMES you have to spend money to save money.

I've never been on the "rich list" and never expect to be, so spending always has limits.

As a small business owner, I usually need to borrow money to spend it on money producing and saving assets. Then it's a case of making smart decisions.

Often the people who can least afford to spend are those who would reap the biggest benefit from a purchase. Solar energy is one of those things that can have a massive spend/save benefit (not to mention the benefit to the environment).

However, for those that are struggling to pay their bills, the last thing they can do is to pull a few thousand dollars off their "magic money tree" in order to reap the cost savings associated with utilising this technology.

That is up until the Queensland Government commenced a scheme in the past week to help out some of those who find themselves in that boat.

The "interest-free loans for solar and storage" scheme started up last week and has the potential to help people with an interest free "hand up", rather than just a handout.

It won't help everyone who wants to access this type of renewable energy, however, it's a start. This scheme is aimed at home owners or buyers with families who have lower incomes and high electricity bills.

To qualify you need to be in receipt of Family Tax benefit B and have power bills over $1000 in the past six months.

The scheme allows for the applicant to apply for a loan of maximum $4500, enough to purchase a 4.5 to 5.5 kilowatt system which should be enough to put a sizeable dent in the quarterly bill. It is interest- free and the loan has a seven-year life. That works out at about $12.35 per week.

Be quick. First in best dressed. The scheme will run for a specific amount of time. Twelve months or until the funding is exhausted, whichever comes first.

Online application is fairly straight forward and asks for information specific to your circumstances.

Applications are assessed in the order they are received and if extra information is required they simply contact you.

There is a list of approved suppliers for south-west Queensland as well, so the hard work is already done.

Reading into this further, I note with interest that the scheme may expand to give landlords incentives to install for rental properties although this is not yet confirmed.

So, do yourself a favour and check out the website:

www.qld.gov.au/community/cost-of-living-support/solar-battery-rebate

Now, if only they'd introduce an interest-free loan scheme to pay for new V8 muscle cars.

Where's that Lister fella's phone number again?

Originally published as YOUR SAY: Warm reception for solar scheme