Victoria’s Solar Homes Package Rebate Update

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Here’s the latest on Victoria’s hugely popular solar power rebate currently in hiatus, a situation that has frustrated PV buyers and solar retailers/installers alike – with potentially serious consequences for some of the latter group.

Just to recap: the Victorian Solar Homes Package PV rebate freeze announced on April 12 brought new residential solar purchasing interest in the state to a grinding halt. The scheme won’t restart until July 1 and is a situation that could have been avoided.

Last week, the Clean Energy Council conducted a roundtable on the situation attended by CEC members, Installer Reference Group representatives and representatives from the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning (DELWP) and Solar Victoria.

Attendees heard that approximately 14,000 rebates have been allocated for systems that are yet to be installed. Among these were close to 5,000 applications that are incomplete.

“Solar Victoria said that it will be contacting each of these customers and encouraging them to contact their retailer to complete their installation, or where Solar Victoria is still waiting for information, to complete their application,” states the CEC.

While there is still a significant amount of work in the pipeline for some, for others the well has run dry – and there doesn’t appear to be any good news in the short-term. While ~7 weeks may not seem a long time to wait, it is when a business has ongoing expenses to pay and nothing is coming in.

New One-Stop Online Portal

Looking ahead to when the program relaunches on July 1, it seems the Victorian Government wants to hit the ground running. There will be changes – for example multiple tranches of funding will be issued over the initial 12-month period. Regular updates will be provided on rebate uptake and funding releases that the Government says will enable solar retailers to plan ahead. Still not clear at this point is how much the rebate will be from July 1.

A new feature for the rebooted program will be a “one-stop” online portal designed to streamline rebate claims and payments. While solar buyers won’t have access to this portal until July 1, retailers will have access from tomorrow to enable them to start setting up. Retailers will be receiving information regarding use of the portal over the coming weeks.

As previously reported, another major change on the retailer side of things is all solar businesses wanting to participate in the program will need to be Approved Solar Retailers. This will be mandatory for the top 150 retailers (based on sales volume in the program up to the end of March 2019) from July 1, and all retailers from November 1.

At this point in time, there is no indication that the program will reopen early. The CEC says it is continuing to push for funding to be brought forward to ease the situation.

“We know that this continues to be a frustrating time for solar retailers,” says the Council. ” The CEC will keep pushing the government for progress on this issue to achieve the best possible outcome for the industry.”

It’s also frustrating for Victorians who have had to put their solar power plans on ice until the program kicks in again. No doubt the new portal will be a very busy place come July 1 as pent up demand is unleashed. Interest in the rebate was strong right up to the point of the freeze, with more than 1,000 applications being lodged per week since Xmas.

The re-started program will also be expanded to include an interest-free loan option, coverage for 50,000 rental properties and 10,000 solar battery installations.