Rising electricity costs are driving more people to consider solar.
An Ernst and Young utilities survey report released this week has highlighted the battle ordinary Australians are having with their rising electricity bills. The study also found over 90 percent of those surveyed would like to switch to solar power.
The research, which consisted of questioning 649 households in Victoria, NSW and Queensland about the impact of electricity prices, had some startling — though perhaps expected — conclusions.
One in three Australian households have missed an electricity bill payment in the last 12 months.
One in ten have missed more than three payments
Sixty percent of those who missed a payment said “unable to afford payment” was the key reason for not paying on time.
Ernst and Young’s Jenny Young told the ABC that electricity bills were one of the main financial concerns for Australians.
“Electricity prices are continuing to be a cause of financial stress for Australian consumers. Most are citing the reason for missing a bill to being unable to afford the payment, so that was the single biggest reason for not paying on time.
“It is causing concern, a lot of people are very worried about financial stress in general but electricity bills are one of the key financial stressors.”
The independent report confirms anecdotal evidence that Australians are doing it tough when it comes to paying their energy bills. Despite the best lobbying efforts of the big energy company and their mates in Canberra and the nation’s capitals, the truth is understood by ordinary Australian people and businesses. That rising electricity bills are the fault of “gold plated” energy infrastructure and financial mismanagement by the fossil fuel industries.
What the report has underlined though is how much fossil fuel companies’ greed and mismanagement is driving up energy poverty in Australia. This is defined as when more than ten percent of household disposable income is spent on energy. For more on this see our article of May 5.
However in a silver lining, the survey also demonstrated that Australians are demanding solar energy in their power mix. The survey found 90 percent of respondents either have, or are considering, switching to solar to beat rising electricity bills. As the Ernst and Young report concludes “the voice of the customer is getting louder” with 70 percent of the survey respondents who had already installed solar saying saving money was the key driver.
Are you struggling with rising electricity bills? Have you already, or are you considering, switching to a solar system to help beat the hike? Please let us know your thoughts, and share with us your experiences, in the comments below. We’d be happy to hear from you.
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Still waiting for that major windfall we were promised. The cheque’s in the mail, right? Had to laugh recently. Not only did a tenant exit without paying her Water Use account, she declined to advise *Synergy* that she’d departed, in order to pick up another month or so of tariff rebates! Not surprised that Aussies have placed solar high on their wishlists. Great to see new retirement homes leading the way, covering their roofs with hundreds of panels!~
—-and guess what? Part of our rates bill is used to pay for power the council uses on our behalf—its been suggested 40% —so for rates to go down power usage has to be cut by council setting up solar and using renewables—question is– are they doing that? Have they even thought about it? I’ve been asking questions and silent reply is deafening. Time to ask your local councillor some no doubt embarrassing questions about that—time for them to earn the wages you pay them!
The good side of this story is that it suggests people are seeing through the lies & spin that have been lumbered on us by successive governments.I live in hope that eventually the sheeple who have always blindly backed on political horse or another will finally realize they are all nothing but bloodsucking parasites whose interests are anything but acting honorably toward their constituents. Sure the blue team is on the nose at all levels right now but it wasn’t that long back that the red team was equally reviled. Meanwhile we see attempted distractions like the Red teams ostensibly ‘independent’ Green team crapping on about the rights of illegal aliens & other questionable causes. Meanwhile the whole lot of these bottom-feeding scum are busily intent on selling everything in which their grubby mates can see a profit. I’m not particularly concerned with scrapping the RET since prices have dropped dramatically in the past few years to the point where a basic grid-connect system is well within the reach of any serious homeowner. Furthermore we see battery costs decreasing constantly & its only a matter of time before it will be cost effective for even city dwellers to disconnect. Amazingly, despite widespread recognition elsewhere on the planet that the times are ‘changin’ (thanks Bob) our lamebrained representatives are intent on returning us to the dark ages although I have no doubt there are substantial personal financial considerations at stake for them.
Rich, I am in Canada,however I hope to be building on our property in Eastern Samar Philippines. Hydro costs in Manitoba run 0.07 cents/kWH. . The wife pays in CDN funds $ 2.48 / kWH.in Tacloban Leyte. Our property is just under 2km from the last hydro pole. To bring in poles, and the line would cost over 50,000.00 CDN. I am going full solar due to costs,plus environmental concerns. Hopefully costs will go down. dave
Thanks for your positive comments folks. Obviously there’s no shortage of want (or need) for solar here in Oz, just political will!
—and there’s the rub—-political will in this country does not seem to have much sense of moral backbone or direction where benefit to the people as a whole is concerned and its time it changed—-thats what these politicians get paid to do and its about time decisions get made that have sense of purpose visible to all with definite direction for the future