Rebate For Solar To Be Scrapped For West Australian's! Solar Market

Blog Update 5/11/2019: Thankfully the Federal Government Solar Rebate has not been cut and Australian residents are still able to access large subsidies when purchasing Solar PV Systems for their household. Read about the rebates available to you here!

Maximise on the Government Changes to Solar!

It’s in the news and it’s been up in the air for some time, but in more recent news it looks like the Labor Party will be scraping the Government subsidies (Solar Government Rebate) for West Australian’s switching to solar.

Energy Minister Ben Wyatt (Labor Party) has motioned that he is in support of cutting the current Solar Government Rebate.

The current Rebate subsidises 54% of the price when purchasing a Solar System for a home or property.

Rebates can vary, but in some instances home owners are getting up to $5000 in assistance towards their systems.

This means prices will go up by this much for a solar system, once the Solar Government Rebate has been cut.

View Current Solar Government Rebates Here!

Wyatt’s Reasoning

Wyatt’s reasoning behind supporting the cut comes from the substantial drop in the price of solar systems over more recent years. Saying “The Rebate has served its purpose” and that “Solar systems are now affordable, without the assistance of the Government Rebate”.

Wyatt’s signalled that he is more focused on providing assistance to people purchasing batteries for their solar systems. There are at least 240,000 solar homes in Perth alone and Wyatt believes, “Batteries will have a crucial role in WA’s future energy needs,
by helping maximise the use of existing infrastructure and reducing the cost of electricity supply for consumers”.

What are batteries?

A solar battery is a battery that becomes charged from solar panels. This battery then stores that charge to be used at a later time. The stored power can be used when a homes’ solar panels are no longer generating energy – in other words, the sun is not out.

Benefits of having a solar battery?

Energy Independence

If you are exceeding the amount of energy your solar panels are generating or tend to use a large majority of power when the sun is not out, batteries will give more energy independence.

The excess energy you generate during peak sun exposure hours will be stored for your use, as opposed to being sold back to the grid at a lower rate.

Avoiding the peak time utility costs

During peak energy consumption times, people pay higher rates. These times are typically between 4pm-10pm. Having a battery solar system means being able to rely on battery stored energy, as opposed to the grids. For solar homeowners, this will assist to avoid paying higher utility rates.

How to maximise the benefits of the Solar Government Rebate change

If you’ve been looking into solar and want to make the switch, now is the time!

Not only have current solar systems lowered in price and are extremely efficient, but you can still get the Solar Government Rebate.

The best way to maximise on this future change in rebates is making the switch to solar while the rebate is still kicking on and select a battery ready or compatible system. (Your solar provider will be able to assist you with this).

This means, if (or more likely when) the Government makes the change for rebates to be switched to batteries, you’ll be battery ready and can maximise on subsidies.