Home Battery Scheme

Mr MURRAY (Davenport) (14:32): My question—

Ms Hildyard: How are Happy Valley's change rooms going?

The SPEAKER: The member for Reynell is called to order.

Mr MURRAY: They're going as well as Flagstaff Community Centre.

The Hon. C.L. Wingard interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Sport is called to order.

Mr MURRAY: They have done very well from us—thanks for asking.

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport!

Mr MURRAY: I do apologise, Mr Speaker. I got momentarily distracted.

The SPEAKER: Member for Davenport, just one moment. Continue.

Mr MURRAY: Thank you. My question is to the Minister for Energy and Mining. Can the minister please update the house on the partners who will help deliver the home battery program?

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN (Stuart—Minister for Energy and Mining) (14:33): Yes, I can. I appreciate very much from the member for Davenport that clear, articulate, direct and within standing orders question. While I'm on my feet, can I also thank the Minister for Recreation and Sport for the female change rooms he has recently funded at Booleroo in my electorate. To the question at hand: yes, I can.

The Hon. S.C. Mullighan interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Lee is warned for a second and final time.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Yes, I can share the partners. There are some I have already spoken about. Of course, 40,000 South Australian households will be very important partners for us in our Home Battery Scheme. I have already mentioned the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, a federal government organisation, which is partnering with us to provide $100 million of low-interest loans so that people not only can have a subsidy for a big chunk of the purchase price of the battery but also borrow money for the remainder of the purchase price of the battery plus solar panels if they would like to.

I have advised the house of Sonnen, a fantastic German company, which is starting a manufacturing hub here in South Australia. They embarked upon the negotiations to do that with the previous state government but drew a blank. Those negotiations went nowhere and they were about to withdraw, but we managed to save that and we are very glad to partner with them. But there is a partner I have not discussed in this chamber yet, which I am happy to share with the member for Davenport and others, and that is RateSetter, an organisation—a financial platform, essentially—

Mr Brown interjecting:

The SPEAKER: The member for Playford is warned.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: —which the Clean Energy Finance Corporation has partnered with in other projects. RateSetter is going to open a new office here in Adelaide. They are a very well-respected, well-known and productive organisation. Their involvement in this scheme has been sanctioned by Procurement SA, which of course is very important, and they will manage the applications for loans and the delivery of the subsidy.

We will make this process as easy as possible for South Australian households and also other important partners in the scheme, the providers of the batteries, the providers of the installation service. What will happen is that households will be able to get quotes. They will then be able to engage electronically, or on the phone if that suits them better, with RateSetter to be able to supply the quote, make sure that the quote comes from an organisation and installer which will supply the battery or a battery supplier which will also take responsibility for installation.

The household is engaging with an organisation which has met the important quality criteria which have been established here. They will enter their quote into the system. They can also apply for a loan online. They will be able to get an indicative response to their loan application online. If that response is positive, they will still have to provide proof of the information that they have supplied online to do with their creditworthiness, etc.

We will make this as easy as possible for households to participate in and RateSetter will be a very important partner for us, along with the other ones that I have mentioned, to make sure that this is a really positive program. We want South Australians to benefit from this program. We want it to be as easy as possible, we want suppliers to benefit, we want to get these batteries out so that these households and every other electricity consumer in the state can benefit. We also want to push down the price of these batteries over time so that this can be a program that lasts for decades and decades to come.