Off-grid concessions are available to people in certain circumstances such as pensioners and other concession holders. These concessions consist of subsidies for Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Firewood, cooking and heating oil and generator fuel (i.e. petrol or diesel).
What you will not receive a subsidy for, however, is the far superior option of living in a house where all the services are electric and your energy comes from batteries that are charged by either solar and/or micro hydro/wind.
So, in summary, if you are eligible for an off grid concession and you power you home with fossil fuels you will receive a 21%-48% discount on your fuel.
If you power your off-grid home with solar you will receive a discount of exactly 0%.
The Victorian government really needs to get its priorities right. They claim to be pro-renewable and serious about climate change and to be fair they have made some moves in the right direction. But when it comes to eliminating hidden subsidies for fossil fuels they have a very long way to go.
The reality is, the fossil fuel industry is massively subsidised around the world and the fossil fuel discount for off-grid concession holders is but one example, however it is an issue that should be easy to fix.
Solar and batteries are a superior option for remote household that are off grid, it should receive the same subsidy as fossil fuel options at the very least.
WE suggest that an upfront capital subsidy be offered equivalent to the warranted period of the battery and inverter. A high quality product such as the Selectronic SP Pro offers 10 years of warranted operation. So therefore 10 years of fuel equivalent could be deemed upfront.
An offgrid generator customer may use 3000L of fuel at $1.50/L so they are effectively being offered a subsidy of around $1350 per year.
A system replacing most fuel use should then receive a 10 year upfront subsidy of $13,500 which would significantly reduce the cost of an entry level system which costs $30000+ In addition a low interest loan should be offered to help people in this off-grid scenario.
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That's mad.
A fuel subsidy of X $ per year, fuel blind, payable to the property owner on invoice production, including invoice for repayments on solar/battery purchase, would be fair, and not complicated to administer.
With a time limit built in, reflecting the time to pay off solar/batteries, the incentive to choose renewables would be clear. Other fuel costs go on forever. Solar systems, once paid for, cost viritually nothing for 20 years. Well, battery replacement, but what will have happened to battery replacement costs by 2028?
So it appears that there are a lot of really crazy Victoria-specific laws promoting fossil fuels. Why not put together a package of legislation to fix all the Victoria-specific things which "tilt the playing field" and campaign to Andrews to push the legislation through? Get rid of the insane code regulation trying to prohibit hot water heat pumps (there's no justification for that); provide a bush subsidy for solar panels same as for fuel; etc. It could all be one package called the "Fair deal for efficiency and solar" law.
That's far too sensible for politicians to agree to
Andrews seems sane enough, it's worth a try sureley?
Of course. Just, he can't do it on his own.