Page 3032 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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Clause 2, as amended, agreed to.
Clauses 3 and 4, by leave, taken together and agreed to.
Clause 5.
MR SESELJA (Molonglo—Leader of the Opposition) (4.22): I move amendment No 2 circulated in my name [see schedule 3 at page 3178].
This amendment proposes that microgenerator contracts signed prior to 1 June get the 100 per cent payback rate. After 1 June they get 66 per cent or 30.16c. Medium generators after a set date will get 66 per cent and prior to that they receive the original rate of 75 per cent or 34.2c. We are amending the Greens proposal to keep both micro and medium from 75 per cent to 66 per cent because of cost issues.
A feature in this clause specifies that the minister can lower the percentage but not increase the percentage. The aim here is to put downward pressure on the tariff percentages. The initial cost of this program at 100 per cent or 45.7c micro and 75 per cent medium to the taxpayers is $7.5 million based on the ICRC’s assumption. By decreasing the payback rate to 66 per cent for both micro and medium generators, it will cost significantly less than that.
These amendments are about consumers. It is about saying that consumers would be paying a significant amount. What we will do is lower that amount. I have put on record before my concerns about the costs to consumers. We cannot fix all of that because we do not have the numbers in the Assembly but what we can do here is to lessen them, and that is what these amendments will do.
As has been touched on, and we have spoken to industry about this in relation to cushioning, we believe that the 30c is more reasonable. It is still something that will allow industry to continue to operate up until this cap but it is a far more sensible amount, it is a far more affordable amount and it will take that little bit of pressure off Canberra families who are faced with very high electricity bills. I commend this amendment to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Molonglo) (4.21): As I have foreshadowed, the Greens will be supporting this amendment. Particularly when it comes to the price, as I indicated in my earlier comments, the Greens also sought to reduce the price because we believe that the efficiencies have been made in the industry. I think it is important to note that it rests upon all of us to ensure with this sort of scheme that we extract the maximum value for the community whilst chasing the objective we are, which is to boost the amount of installed renewable energy available in the ACT.
So on that basis I think that the numbers that Mr Seselja has proposed the industry will operate within will meet the objective that we are trying to meet here, which is to provide a step-down approach for the industry as their efficiencies improve.
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