AAP

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says the government could “fine tune” the system that docks pensioner welfare payments if they sell solar power back into the grid.

Pensioners have this week complained that if they install solar panels and sell any excess power, Centrelink counts cash payments and power bill rebates as income.

Mr Rudd on Friday told the Seven Network he’d examine the issue.

“Let’s look and see if there’s any fine tuning possible here,” the prime minister said.

“(But) the pension system has been around for a long time and it counts all forms of income.”

Mr Rudd said pensioners could earn about $150 a fortnight without it affecting their pension. Couples could earn about $250.

“Most of those panels are designed so that you could perhaps feed back into the grid $50 or $60 a fortnight.

“(So) it should be therefore doable without really affecting people’s pension.”

Source: http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/rudd-to-examine-pensioners-payments-20100430-twz5.html

by Jason Whittaker

Dodgy home solar panel installations are putting lives at risk and Peter Garrett is solely responsible, if you believe the news reports doing the rounds today.

Except there is nothing out of the ordinary about the number of botched installations, not a single house has burnt down, and most of the solar panels were installed under the previous coalition government in a program launched by then-environment minister Malcolm Turnbull.

The ABC’s “investigation” into solar panel installations has fingered the embattled environment minister for putting about 2000 homes at risk of electrical fire by incorrectly installing the panels. Garrett’s fortunes — already under fire over deadly home fires sparked by roof insulation —  “appear to be going from bad to worse” the AM program declared this morning.

But the firm charged with auditing solar panel installation — and used as the key source in last night’s Lateline story — calls the concerns a “beat-up” and points out most were installed under the Howard Government.

A spokesperson for the Clean Energy Council (CEC) told Crikey “people are making it more political than what it is”. Of the thousands of solar panel installations sparked by the rebate scheme, none have caused a home fire.

The Coalition doubled the rebate on solar panels from $4000 to $8000 in the 2007 federal Budget, sparking a frenzied up-take that more than quadrupled the number of installers operating in Australia. The funding blow-out forced Labor to cut the rebate in half last year and apply a means-testing formula.

Geoff Stapleton conducted the latest audits as a sub-contractor for the CEC and wasn’t surprised by results showing about 3% of systems have been mis-installed. As more solar panels are fitted, more will inevitably be installed badly.

He told Crikey the number of installers has grown from 400 to 1700; about 6000 were installed in the first six years of the program, while the government reported 6000 inquiries in one week alone last year.

Stapleton doesn’t know who took the story to Lateline. And he rejects the program’s assertion that the CEC demanded the latest audits last year — these were requested by the Department of the Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts, he said.

The problem systems are being installed on AC power rather than the industry-standard DC voltage. Every industry has its cowboys that will fail to meet installation instructions, Stapleton said. “We take these matters very seriously,” he said.

Australian standards are the toughest in the world and have been taken up globally as industry-standard. “We have standards in Australia that no other country even has,” Stapleton said.

Opposition environment spokesperson Greg Hunt has called for another auditor-general inquiry into solar panel installations (something Garrett says the government will consider). He told AM:

These three programs have all been riddled by mismanagement. Clearly the minister is not across them and there are home owners who that are at risk.

A spokesperson for Hunt is yet to respond to Crikey’s questions over the former government’s own role in the rapid roll-out of solar panel installations.

Source: http://www.crikey.com.au/2010/02/18/garrett-fingered-over-dodgy-solar-panels-but-story-a-beat-up/

THE Rudd government’s $480 million “national solar schools” program was quietly suspended yesterday afternoon via a notice posted on the popular scheme’s website.

“The National Solar Schools Program has been suspended to any new claims in 2009-10. This suspension takes effect as of 3:00pm 15 October 2009,” the notice said.

A spokesman for Environment Minister Peter Garrett, who did not formally announce the program’s closure, said 1300 schools had been approved under the program last year and 500 had already been approved this financial year, with another 700 “still in the pipeline for assessment”.

Those 700 would be funded if eligible, and additional money made available if required.

But no more applications will now be considered until next financial year.

Announcing the program in July 2008, Mr Garrett said “the Rudd Labor government wants every Australian school — primary, secondary, public and private — to have the opportunity to become a ‘solar school’ and the commencement of this half-a-billion dollar program delivers on our election commitment.”

“… Industry too will benefit from the program from the $480 million federal funding injection, creating increased demand for large solar power systems for school roofs,” Mr Garrett said at the time.

The suspension is the latest in a series of changes and cuts to government solar programs, including the introduction of a means test on the household solar panel rebate and the ending of the remote solar program.

Opposition environment spokesman Greg Hunt said it was “amazing that this government can waste $16billion on unwanted school halls but suspend a key solar program that every school appears to want”.

The program has already hit implementation hurdles with NSW’s centralised tendering process meaning no school had installed panels more than a year after the program started, and many schools running into problems hooking their panels into the power grid.

Mr Garrett’s spokesman said the Department of the Environment would contact every school registered under the program as well as those with applications on hand to advise of the suspension until next year.

Under the program schools were eligible for up to $50,000 to install solar power systems, or energy efficiency spending on items such as lighting, fans or awnings. Rainwater tanks, small wind turbines, small hydro power generators and skylights were also eligible.

Source: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26216449-11949,00.html