A policy designed to give households access to abundant free solar power has been nobbled by a regulatory process that put electricity retailer interests ahead of consumer bill savings, according to veteran electrical engineer Ty Christopher.
Christopher, director of the Energy Futures Network at the University of Wollongong, describes the federal government’s Solar Sharer policy as a “great piece of public policy”.
But he says its original purpose – sharing cheap daytime solar with households that don’t have rooftop solar and helping them cut their bills – was compromised once “retailer viability” became one of the considerations in its design.
“Retailer viability is actually code for making sure the retailers don’t lose any money out of this. And as soon as you implement it without the retailers losing any money, it was never going to save anyone money.”
Speaking to Renew Economy’s SwitchedOn podcast, Christopher accused retailers and gentailers of “successfully neutering its entire intent in terms of delivering results to consumers”.
