Representatives of the solar hot water industry will be back in Canberra today lobbying for more financial support after a popular rebate program was suddenly closed last month.
The $320 million bonus scheme encouraged households to reduce emissions by switching from older electric hot water systems to solar or heat pump systems.
The scheme was scheduled to run until the end of June, but in late February the Government declared that anyone who had not yet paid a deposit would miss out.
The Opposition is pushing ahead with a bill to reinstate the $1,000 rebate for another four months, although it does not appear likely to succeed.
Gareth Jennings from manufacturer Rheem was in Canberra when the Government abruptly announced the closure of the rebate program, and says the market is now very uncertain.
He will be back in Canberra today, hoping to convince the Government to extend some longer term support.
“I think it’s probably going to take another month or so for us to understand what the full impact of the change is,” he said.
“Even though this rebate was always scheduled to end in 2012, to do it in February rather than June as I think most of the industry expected caught everybody unawares.”
The Parliamentary Secretary for Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, Mark Dreyfus, says the industry knows the program was always going to wind up by the end of June.
He says it is too early to know if there will be any money left over for additional support.
“If there’s any underspent funds, then we won’t know that until June 30,” Mr Dreyfus said.
The Greens are in discussions with Mr Dreyfus about using the money which had been allocated in next year’s budget for the program.
Opposition climate action spokesman Greg Hunt says jobs are now at risk.
He hopes to give notice today of a bill to reinstate the rebate for the remaining four months.
“It simply calls on the Government to carry out the policy it announced, to make available the funds it allocated and to allow the industry to have a transition path and to allow families who wanted to have access to solar hot water to have that access,” he said.
But the Government maintains any warning of the program’s closure would have created an expensive spike in demand, and the Greens are also indicating they will not support the Opposition’s bill.
