Solar Citizens Officially Launches Today

Solar Citizens aims to bring together existing and future solar owners in Australia and to help see solar installed on every suitable rooftop in the nation.

Solar Citizens aims to bring together existing and future solar owners in Australia and to help see solar installed on every suitable rooftop in the nation. 
   
The project is an offshoot of 100% Renewable;  a non-partisan organisation established to help move Australia towards a renewable energy future. 
  
While the solar revolution is well under way and millions of systems have been installed in Australia; there are some dark clouds on the horizon.
 
“But despite the many reasons to go solar, some big energy companies don’t want to see Australians take back control of their own energy needs. They want to make connecting to solar harder, not easier,” says part of a statement on the Solar Citizens web site.
 
According to Solar Citizens, Australians have invested $8 billion so far in small scale solar power systems. 
 
Calculations performed by national solar provider Energy Matters estimate that collectively, the 1 million plus solar panel arrays in the nation will generate around $913 million worth of electricity (retail value) over the next 12 months – making these households a threat to Big Energy in Australia.
 
Solar Citizens says it will strive to protect the rights of solar households, lobbying to ensure they are treated with respect and paid a fair price for the power they contribute to the mains grid. With potentially nearly 2 million households as participants including solar hot water system owners; the group could become a powerful voice. 
 
Solar Citizens’ first two campaigns focus on looming issues in Tasmania and Queensland.
  
The Queensland campaign highlights concerns regarding a proposal from the Queensland Competition Authority to move solar power owners on to a different electricity billing system that could see increased charges for solar households.
  
The campaign for Tasmania is in relation to the privatising Aurora’s electricity retailer arm, to occur in January 2014. There are fears that as a result, solar feed-in tariffs could be slashed.
   
Both campaigns involve petitions that will be presented to relevant authorities.
  

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