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Legislative Council - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2021-05-27 Daily Xml
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Switch for Solar

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:21): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding solar concessions. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about how the Marshall Liberal government is providing cheaper, cleaner electricity for low income South Australians?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:21): I thank the member for her question and for her interest in this particular area. Some of the programs operated by the Department of Human Services in the space of the South Australian energy concession discount offer are well known, and that covers general energy costs which is separate to, in particular, green power. We have been very pleased that we have been able to initiate a particular program called Switch for Solar, which will be available on a pilot basis to existing Cost of Living Concession holders in some areas, including the north-eastern suburbs such as Modbury and Paradise, and some customers who are on the south coast.

Those people who are in receipt of the COLC, as it is known (Cost of Living Concession), receive a reduction in their electricity bills if they are living in those particular areas. The concession is at the moment $215.10 per year and an additional concession of $231.41 for the energy bill, which makes up $446.51. These concessions can be put towards a solar system, which means that customers, we estimate, could save up to $890 off their annual energy bill. The determination for the areas that were chosen was in conjunction with the Department for Energy and Mining based on some network technicalities.

We do have a large number of concession recipients and energy concession recipients in South Australia, and we think that this is a particularly good scheme where people will have a payback which will leave them in front. The full going concession for a period of 10 years will enable a 4.4 kilowatt solar system to be installed.

We also know, particularly with people who are on low incomes, that often the barrier is having that particular amount of funding available. That means, in terms of people who have been the earlier adopters, they have tended to be people who have had the capacity to invest in those systems, so we have been proactive in terms of making sure that we will contact those households in the system who we think may be eligible, and I look forward to reporting on the outcomes of the trial in due course.

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