The Greens Want Access to Grid for All and a Fair Price for Solar Power

The political party Greens want to regulate the country’s power system to ensure that a fair price is paid for solar-generated electricity and to ensure a legal right to connect to the grid by forcing the energy companies to prove they can’t connect a consumer according to a report by The Guardian. 

The party’s clean energy policy would put about $192M for solar into schools, establish a solar ombudsman who would enforce a right to solar for renter and force the energy companies to decrease pole and wire assets. The greens would also put about $5M into an information campaign to promote the Clean Energy Finance Corporation’s schemes to support homes and businesses installing solar with no upfront costs. The policy was launched by Greens leader Richard Di Natale and MP Adam Bandt.

Solar homes and businesses will be protected from charges and fees that is likely to be imposed by electricity networks to get back their diminishing revenues as the electricity system decentralises and consumers are more empowered. In NSW, the generous five-year state government-subsidised scheme pays up to 60 cents per kW, depending on the time of contract until December. More than 146,000 New South Wales households which signed up to the scheme will go back to a market price of about 6 cents in January 2017. In Victoria, solar households and small-scale wind turbines generators are presently on a flat 5.2 cent/kWh tariff for power sold to the grid.

The Greens policy also calls for a national standard on connection to the electricity grid to fast-track renewable energy in the country. The party wants a fee structure and a timeframe for commercial and domestic connections. It will have guidelines for potential connections and a right to appeal decisions of network companies when applications for any connections refused. The green s have already released a policy that calls for 90% of energy generated from renewable by the year 2030. The Greens will also establish a new $500M government authority called RenewAustralia that will plan and drive

The green s have already released a policy that calls for 90% of energy generated from renewable by the year 2030. The Greens will also establish a new $500M government authority called RenewAustralia that will plan and drive transition to a new clean energy system. It would also create a $250M Clean Energy Transition Fund assist coal workers and affected communities with the transition.

Click here to read the full story on The Guardian