Page 1852 - Week 07 - Tuesday, 22 June 2021
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MR BARR: I thank Mr Pettersson for the question. As I am sure members are aware, the scheme provides zero-interest loans of between $2,000 and $15,000 to eligible householders which can be repaid in a period of up to 10 years. The scheme guidelines have been released. They set out the objectives and parameters of the scheme in more detail.
As I have flagged on multiple occasions, the scheme will be rolled out in a phased approach over a number of years. In the first phase, eligible households will be able to apply for interest-free loans for household solar and battery storage, with other components, such as EVs and charging infrastructure, heating and cooling systems, and energy-efficient appliances, being progressively rolled out and included in the scheme in the coming months.
In the coming days, the first group of home owners who registered their interest in the scheme and who have participated in an Actsmart workshop will be invited to take part in the scheme. We will seek feedback from this first group before the scheme expands to other eligible home owners in the coming financial year.
MR PETTERSSON: Chief Minister, how many households in Canberra will be eligible for the scheme?
MR BARR: Approximately 150,000.
DR PATERSON: Chief Minister, what has been the community and industry reaction to the scheme so far?
MR BARR: There has been significant interest. More than 5,000 households have already registered. I can advise that the most popular products are rooftop solar, with 3,800 registrations, and battery storage, with 3,100 registrations. Interestingly, around 1,600 individuals have now expressed interest in purchasing an EV, which I can report would effectively mean a doubling of the number of EVs currently registered in the ACT. This response from ACT households, along with the 44 registered businesses, demonstrates a high level of enthusiasm for the program.
Business—ChooseCBR scheme
MR PARTON: My question is to the minister for business. My question is about how the government calculated spending on ChooseCBR vouchers. Before the government shut down the scheme, the ChooseCBR website stated that $255,000 out of $1,689,385 had been redeemed. That totals $1,944,385, which is more than $55,000 less than the $2 million your government allocated. Minister, how come your government’s numbers do not add up?
MS CHEYNE: Earlier this morning I detailed that throughout Wednesday and especially on Thursday, as issues were being identified, the vendor was applying fixes to those issues. As the fixes were applied, other issues were emerging. One of those issues occurred with the ticker—I think that is what Mr Parton is referring to here—in how the values were appearing on the ticker, which I think we all noticed and
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