Federal Energy Rebates: Solar Households May Come Out Ahead

Electricity Price Hikes Incoming…

If you live in an eastern state —  or that middle state called South Australia strapped to them by a couple of transmission lines — then in July, you’ll be hit with hefty electricity price increases.

To make the coming price hikes less unpleasant for some, the Federal Government will provide energy rebates — likely to be around a few hundred dollars — to low-income households.  These will include pensioners and most receiving Centrelink benefits.

Federal Government DIshing Out Energy Rebates for Low-Income Households

The plan was revealed yesterday and details should be provided in tomorrow’s budget.  The amount of energy rebate will depend on where you are.  In some places, you may receive a state energy rebate even if you’re not a low-income earner.  For example, Queensland — the state that will be hit the hardest — is handing out $200 to all households. 

The rebates are a fixed amount handed out to eligible households regardless of electricity or gas consumption.  So if you have solar, you’ll receive its benefit and whatever rebates you can get.  If you don’t have solar, now is a good time to get it.  It would make good sense even if electricity prices weren’t about to rise.

Solar Households May Come Out Ahead

Those who use very little grid electricity, either because they have solar panels or are just very frugal, can come out ahead in the game of energy rebates.  This is because they may receive more in rebate money than they pay in higher energy costs. 

Upgrading Solar Systems and Home Batteries to Reduce Grid Reliance

But if you do have solar power and find you still use lots of grid electricity, you may want to upgrade to a larger solar system and/or shift more electricity consumption to the middle of the day to take greater advantage of solar generation.  Home batteries are also an effective way to reduce reliance on the grid.  While they don’t yet pay for many households, higher electricity prices, lower feed-in-tariffs, and time-of-use tariffs make them a better deal than they were.

Price Increases Over A Year Late

The main reason electricity prices are increasing in July is because Vladimir Putin is a shithead.  Fourteen months ago, he decided the best solution to the problem of Ukraine not being violently invaded was to violently invade it.  This caused energy prices to soar overseas and in Australia’s eastern states because they were exposed to international prices.

Another factor has been problems with Australia’s aging fleet of clapped-out coal power stations.  A major offender was Queensland’s Callide Power Station.  Over the past couple of years, it simply hasn’t been able to keep it together.  It had a turbine explode in May 2021 followed by parts of its cooling system collapsing at the end of October 2022. 

The Political Motivation Behind Delayed Price Increases

Callide’s problems have increased Queensland’s wholesale electricity prices for two years now, but despite Ukraine being invaded over a year ago,  very little of the energy price increases from that event have been passed on to the public so far.  Instead, we’ll be hit with nearly the whole amount in two months’ time and pay for it through the next financial year.  It would have been sensible to raise electricity prices soon after Ukraine was invaded to encourage energy efficiency when international energy prices were at their highest.  Unfortunately, the government at the time didn’t take that step.  The fact it was an election year may have been a factor.

It also could be sensible to stretch out the price increases over two or three years, since Putin’s probably not going to invade another country any time soon.  But that’s probably not going to happen because it’s not an election year, and our current mob of pollies will probably prefer higher prices now and lower ones closer to the next federal election.

Energy Rebates Are A Temporary Solution

The state and federal energy rebates are basically slapping patches on the problem of high energy prices.  This doesn’t mean they’re not appreciated.  They will help a considerable number of people avoid hardship.  But I would also like to see the system improved for the better rather than just ad hoc solutions being applied.  While ad hoc solutions may keep you out of hock, they won’t prepare the country for the future. 

It’s possible we’ll soon see improvements made, and they may even be announced in tomorrow’s budget, but I’m not very optimistic.

Original Source: https://www.solarquotes.com.au/blog/federal-energy-rebates/