Kiwis protesting a “sun tax” on some of the nation’s solar households have made their feelings known in an action by Greenpeace New Zealand.
In July this year, New Zealand’s Electricity Authority was accused of attempting “kill the uptake of solar power” after it ruled a local electricity distributor charging solar households an extra fee was not in breach of any regulations.
A petition was soon launched by Greenpeace New Zealand and 45,000 paper suns, each with the name of a petition signatory, were recently taken to the reception of the Electricity Authority in Wellington.
Drawing more attention to the event was New Zealand musician Tiki Taane, who also serenaded the Authority with a song written for the occasion, Shine Your Love.
“We should be celebrating the fact that so many Kiwis are behind solar. Solar is a vital part of the solution to dangerous climate change. Sunshine is free, it’s clean and it’s everywhere,” said Mr. Taane.
While the event was somewhat light-hearted; the action represented a serious matter. Affected solar households are reportedly paying up to 20% more network costs than their non-solar counterparts.
“As the watchdog of New Zealand’s power, the Electricity Authority must step up to the plate and protect people’s freedom of choice to use clean energy like solar,” said Greenpeace climate and energy campaigner, Kate Simcock.
” This includes stopping power providers from penalising solar users by introducing ridiculous policies like a tax on sunshine.”
Greenpeace NZ has vowed to keep up the fight.
Similar attempts by electricity distributors in Australia to impose a “sun tax” have failed so far. A decision in the Federal Court in December last year prevented a penalty on solar power system owners being applied in South Australia.
According to Energy in New Zealand 2016 (PDF), the proportion of country’s primary energy supply sourced from renewable resources was 40.1% in 2015.
The total generation from small solar panel installations in 2015 was estimated to be 33 GWh, more than double the 2014 total. However, total solar generation, including both PV and thermal, remained a tiny fraction of primary renewable energy (0.1%).
