ELECTRICITY FEED-IN SCHEME

The Hon. M. PARNELL (15:05): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Mineral Resources Development, representing the Premier, a question about the review into the solar electricity feed-in scheme.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M. PARNELL: On 8 April this year, the Legislative Council passed the Greens Electricity (Feed-In Rates) Amendment Bill to fix a loophole in the government feed-in scheme which allowed electricity retailers to stop paying for the electricity they were receiving from households with solar panels on their roof when the scheme began in June last year.

In June this year, in stating why the government was not going to support the bill, the member for Light in another place said the government was conducting a review into the scheme, and the officials conducting the review would consider 'options to ensure customers receive fair value from retailers for energy exported to the network'. He went on to say:

It is anticipated that the government will be in a position to advise the parliament of the outcome of these deliberations in September this year.

This review is apparently being conducted by officers from the Premier's department. Yet, on the department's own climate change website, it currently states:

In May 2009, South Australia reached the 10 MW capacity. This has triggered a review of the feed-in scheme which will commence shortly. The terms of reference will be published when the review is formally announced.

In response to media interest as to why electricity retailers continue to exploit this loophole in the government scheme, the Premier stated on Channel 7 News on 1 September:

The electricity companies that are now basically dodging their responsibilities deserve to be labelled as rip-off merchants.

My questions to the minister are:

1. Has the review into the feed-in scheme actually begun?

2. If so, what are its terms of reference?

3. When will it be completed?

4. Will the government commit to resolving this situation—where the Premier himself says that electricity companies are dodging responsibilities and acting as rip-off merchants—before the state election, or will the 10,000 or so households in South Australia that export solar electricity to the grid continue to be ripped off until the middle of next year?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning, Minister for Small Business) (15:07): I will refer that question to the Premier and bring back a reply.