Despite the Newman Government’s decision to slash the feed in tariff, figures show that new solar installations under the 8 cent feed in tariff are still strong.
Figures provided by Energex show about 230,000 households in south east Queensland will have had solar panels installed by the end of the financial year with 20,000 of these under the new 8 cent feed in tariff. The number of installations at the 8 cent rate has been higher than the 44 cent rate for the past three months, with 2700 installations under the 8-cent rate versus 1538 under the 44-cent tariff.
Energex’s customer advocate Mike Swanston said there was still strong demand for solar in the state.
“While the end of the 44 cent regime has seen a drop off from the heady heights in the middle of 2012, recent months have shown there is still interest in solar PV installations even at the reduced rate,” Mr Swanston said.
Whilst sales are down from 12 months ago, the number of new installations that continue are encouraging for the industry. Clean Energy Council policy manager Darren Gladman commented: “From what Energex tells me, about two-thirds of that is without the (44 cent) feed-in tariff so that suggests there’s a pretty good underlying demand.”
Based in South East Queensland, Energex distributes electricity to more than 1.3 million residential, industrial and commercial customers across the state.
