It’s not often that an environmentalist would celebrate the end of green energy subsidies but Dickson Beattie has had enough.
The Adelaide electrician has watched as “fly-by-night” solar panel installers took advantage of generous government rebates and performed shoddy work in homes, tarnishing the industry.
Now, with the Gillard government’s announcement that upfront rebates for home owners would be slashed by 20 per cent next July and be gradually wound down, Mr Beattie has hope for the future of the industry.
The subsidies are calculated by the amount of energy produced by the panels and have been widely used by solar energy companies to discount the price of their products and boost sales.
Climate Change Minister Greg Combet announced yesterday that from July 1 next year the solar credits multiplier would be reduced, cutting the rebate for a typical 1.5kW system in Sydney, Brisbane, Perth or Adelaide to $5000 from $6200. But Mr Combet says the change will mean that power prices will be $12 lower next year because retailers will have to buy less of the expensive power generated by the solar scheme.
Mr Beattie believes that as the subsidies fall, so will the number of solar panel installers.
“I would like to see rebates come down and would like to see the industry operate at sustainable levels,” he said. “I really think that’s what the industry needs. There’s too many people without any solar experience who want to make a quick buck, and that’s ruining my industry.”
He said it was a good time to end the rebates as the cost of solar panels had plunged.
Mr Beattie, an environmentalist who has built electric cars, started his solar business, Eco Green Electrical, three years ago.
He has since installed solar power systems in 500 South Australian homes and said he has spared himself the fate of being viewed as another shonky operator.
“I just get work from word of mouth now,” he said.
“It started off slow and took a long time to get going, but there’s just been massive growth.”
But he hoped that people would soon view the industry with more respect.
“Many people have had a bad experience with installers,” he said.
“Standards have really lowered in the last three years.”
Earlier this year, Fiona O’Hehir, the chief executive of renewable energy certificate trader, Greenbank Australia, warned a Senate estimates committee that many companies had been performing shonky work to capitalise on the government rebates.
“You actually have electricity generation on your roof, and if you start putting in cheap panels that are made with just plain glass, not tempered glass, it is dangerous,” Ms O’Hehir said.
