THE NSW government and the solar and electricity industries have been able to agree on one thing this week – there should be a single national system of tariffs paid to households for the solar energy they generate.
But the federal government is unlikely to back a national system of subsidies for solar-generating households, which it says is inefficient and raises the cost of electricity for all consumers, The Australian Financial Review reports.
NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher said on Tuesday he would push for an overhaul of the existing system of different feed-in tariff schemes across the country at the next meeting of the Council of Australian Governments in June.
"Absolutely, we're going to the ministerial meeting in Perth in June and one of the issues is to work for a national energy market," Mr Hartcher said.
"This fragmented system, which as you've seen right across Australia has simply not worked. Western Australia has reduced its solar rebate scheme only last week from 40¢ to 20¢ [per kilowatt hour]. In every jurisdiction, these rebate schemes have blown out massively."
