The Greens’ plan for cheaper and cleaner power for Australian homes and businesses announced on the weekend includes grants and loans for the installation of solar battery storage.
The Greens say government support has helped bring down the cost of solar panels, and the party wants to do the same with battery storage.
- Up to $5,000 grants for households ($10,000 for small businesses).
- Up to $10,000 further in low interest loans ($50,000 for small businesses).
The grants would have a maximum value of 50% of the total cost of the installation.
“Subsidies of this scale are also expected to support investment in the domestic battery manufacturing industry, creating thousands of jobs in battery manufacturing, installation and maintenance,” states the party.
How many of these grants and loans would be up for grabs and how long the program would run wasn’t mentioned.
Dollars For Ditching Gas
The Greens’ plan also spruiks grants for households and business owners of up to $25,000 and loans of up to $100,000 to help both ditch gas in favour of electrification.
The grant component would be limited to 20% of the total cost of the replacement project, but could be boosted to 50% for a household if complete disconnection from mains gas occurs within six months. The party is also wanting to work with state and territory governments to ban gas connections in new housing developments. Some local governments are already considering this move.
“The Greens’ electrification plan will enable every Australian to have the cheapest, safest and most reliable power in history.”
The power source that ticks all those boxes is renewable energy – and more work needs to be done there.
Power Australia Still Part Of Policy
Another ambitious element of the Greens’ plan is the previously announced creation of a 100% publicly-owned non-profit electricity retailer, Power Australia. The entity would offer all Australian businesses at-cost electricity, cheaper electricity for households and increase uptake of green energy. Power Australia would be created from Snowy Hydro.
In a comment that will surely make many power company executives’ and shareholders’ blood run cold, Greens leader Adam Bandt said:
“Electricity is an essential service and it shouldn’t be run for profit.”
How Will All This Be Paid For?
All these grants and such would amount to a significant chunk of change – and the money will come from:
- hitting the super-wealthy with a ‘billionaires tax’
- requiring hugely-profitable big corporations to pay a ‘corporate super-profits tax’
- axing subsidies for the fossil fuel industry.
The Greens say its measures have been costed by the independent Parliamentary Budget Office.
More on the policy initiatives can be found here.
Greens: “Your Vote Is Powerful”
While no-one is expecting the Greens to win the election – not even the Greens – Adam Bandt explained in a video from earlier this year how the party could be much better positioned to see some of their policies make it over the line; assuming they get enough votes.
If environmental and energy policies are important to you in this election, we’ll have an in-depth article from SQ’s Ronald published in the next couple of days comparing how the major parties stack up.
Update: Check out Ronald’s post comparing party policies on clean energy and environment.
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So socialised electricity which will wipe out the power generation sector in Australia, and pie in the sky taxation?
Lets be honest, who in their right mind believes billionaires and their high priced accountants won’t be able to use loopholes to avoid being taxed. And it they’re taxed on the basis of wealth rather than income, then you’re talking wealth seizures and probably a Venezuela type outcome.
On paper the notion of taxing big corporations sounds great – Amazon often pays less tax than minimum wage workers, but the only way that works is if loopholes get closed, and government lawyers and accountants are rarely as well paid as those in private practice. While pretty much everyone would support the outcome, few would actually trust it to happen.
As for fossil fuel subsidies, what subsidies? Usually the subsidies referred to are tax rebates e.g. road taxes on fuel not used on roads. Targeting those ‘subsidies’ is simple dishonesty and theft.
Fortunately the odds of the Greens winning the election are low. With luck they’ll also have no impact on the balance of power lest Australia be held to ransom.
As regards Ronald’s forthcoming policy analysis, is that Coalition v Labor, or will it include the Centre Alliance, Katter’s Australia Party, Liberal Democrats, One Nation, United Australia Party and any others currently represented in the House or Senate? I’ve roughly worked out my HoR order but the Senate options remain a mess. :-\
(Oh while I remember, thanks for the AEC link Geoff. For some reason I didn’t see that section when previously looking\searching, though the candidate list didn’t come out ’til … Saturday I think?)
George Kaplan,
“So socialised electricity which will wipe out the power generation sector in Australia…”
Who do you think built NSW’s coal-fired generators, transmission & distribution network, George? A clue:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electricity_Commission_of_New_South_Wales
Who do you think still owns most of the generators and distribution network in Queensland, George? Another clue:
http://www.qca.org.au/project/our-role-electricity/electricity-facts/
“As for fossil fuel subsidies, what subsidies?”
Oh dear, it seems to me you don’t appear well informed on a range of subjects, George. ?
https://reneweconomy.com.au/coalition-spending-on-fossil-fuel-subsidies-tops-1-3-billion-in-first-week-of-campaign/
The AEC link was posted Friday, Apr 22 evening here (albeit I found it when looking on Saturday morning): https://twitter.com/AusElectoralCom/status/1517462623713132546