ACTPLA forces solar company out of market

luke 79, the cost for our 1.8kw installation was $180 for ACTPLA and $162 for ACTEW.

I reckon that these were reasonable costs for ensuring that the installation was done properly and there were no risks (a la the insulation program).

deezagood said :

Jeez would it really be such a stretch to have gay marriages AND accessable/affordable solar power???

How about neither Deeza?

Seeing as we are beholden to our federal overlords with regards to Gay marriage I think the locals could probably find better things to do with their time than trying to find ways to get around it.
And as for solar, if these small PV systems were in any way economically viable without massive subsidies from the rest of us, i’d be all for it. But currently all we have is a growing layer of smug from well off people thinking that they are “doing something” for the environment whilst everyone else is footing the bill.

deezagood said :

Jeez would it really be such a stretch to have gay marriages AND accessable/affordable solar power???

Are you crazy?! these two issues are quite obviously mutually exclusive.

Make your choice people!

+1 to deezagood & Vision2010

Special G said :

If red tape and costs were the problem for the company they would simply bill you more. I look at it as they just couldn’t be bothered getting your business.

This. The playing field is still level if it’s a regulatory matter; it affects all operators equally. If they have trouble with the regulations, I imagine it’s more likely to be their ability to comply rather than their willingness to.

Just had solar panels installed – nil problems on any front. The company was recommended by a friend and operates in the ACT. Find another company that is willing to do the work for you. If red tape and costs were the problem for the company they would simply bill you more. I look at it as they just couldn’t be bothered getting your business.

Bosworth said :

Let me guess – you’re a 40-something white male married christian heterosexual homeowner with children?

… who are being doomed to an uninhabitable planet.

Bosworth, does being a 40-something white male married Christian heterosexual homeowner with children, who probably also pays taxes and votes, not also deserve legislation that reflects his concerns?

+1 to aurelius and bosworth

Jeez would it really be such a stretch to have gay marriages AND accessable/affordable solar power???

I was thinking CraigT would be younger than 40, im gonna aim for 34.
Would be interesting to to find out exactly what ACTPLA are charging. Im not in the ACT but I work within the electricity metering industry and have been involved with grid connect solar systems for some time. I have heard that many of the companies cashing in on the rush for people to go ‘green’ are a little less than honest with their products abilities and their abilities to pay their sub contractors installing the systems.
Whilst I agree it is important for the government and various electricity providers to encourage the exploration of solar generation. Rushing the whole process by way of rebates is leading to a lot of problems including safety issues which will be ongoing.
I am by no means against grid connected solar systems. I just think the government has handled it poorly, in similar ways to the insulation scheme.

Clean energy obviously should be a high priority, and probably concerns everyone more directly than some other issues (doesn’t mean other issues are any less worthwhile) but I think it’s a decent point to make that the ACT government makes a lot of fuss over these things with pretty average results..

CraigT – What part of hydro electricity is not renewable?

CraigT said :

It’s worth pointing out that while the ACT Government obsesses about homosexual “marriages” for the benefit of the 18 Canberrans who give a toss, and while they pursue the expensive ideological vendetta against Calvary Hospital’s provision of morality-based healthcare services, we remain the Australian state/territory producing the LEAST of our power needs from renewable sources. I think we manage to average about 2%.

Yes, even those red-necked Queenslanders produce more renewable power than the politically-correct hypocrites who run the ACT Government.

Not sure if you have noticed by the ACT is quite small in land mass and devoid of the natural resources (other than the sun and wind) to produce large quantities of renewable energy. So 2% is not all that bad I would have thought.

As for your other whinges, especially about Calvary hospital why should the government not have a say. After all the ACT tax payer is paying for the service, so why not provide services to everyone without the Catholic crap. If Catholics don’t want the services then that should be their choice.

I’m a very strident critic of ACTPLA – I reckon they are generally hopeless.

However, when we recently had solar panels installed, all the work liaising with ACTPLA was done by the installer, and ACTPLA actually appeared to do their job well.

I’d be interested to knowmore fully the concerns of the company in question. My parents did their homework and put in solar panels last year with a “reputable company” (not sure which one) without any problems, other than having to wait a while for ACTEW to hook ’em up so they could start feeding back into the grid.

Its probably symptomatic of the “too little government oversight VS too much” debate. Either we have a schemes such as the disastrous federal govt insulation scheme for example, where unscrupulous businesses put profit before safety or ethics, or, we have heavy government regulation …. which is then deemed “obstructionism”. At least the later might protect people. Private industry has a lot to answer for the environmental schemes debacle.

The only reason Queensland produced any significant renewable energy is because they have some useful-sized hydro-electric generation capacity- something lacking in the ACT. More information on the actual charges and administrative practices at issue, please. It might change this story from a whinge to a substantive complaint capable of reddening some ACTPLA faces.

A workmate recently fitted solar panels and was told by the (NSW North coast-based) provider that they were not going to provide service in the ACT any longer for exactly the reasons outlined in OP.

Three months is a pretty long wait for approval of six light-weight panels and some basic electrical work.

It used to be the case that you needed approval for a solar hot water system too, anyone know if that is still the case? It basically meant (means) that anyone replacing a defunct hot water service dod (does) not have the option to go solar unless they had the incredible foresight to seek pre-approval.

CraigT: Calvary can provide all the morality based healthcare they want – off their own purse, as with other private hospitals the country wide.

To have millions every year from the public purse pumped into a hospital that is discriminatory in its services walks a hazardous line on the church/state separation divide. The state should be free of religious beliefs, yet here we have a publicly funded hospital that refuses contraceptive procedures based on religious grounds.

An extreme but comparative example would be to have public funding going to a hospital run by Jehovah’s Witnesses that refuses to do blood transfusions, based on their religious beliefs.

I’m not saying anything about those respective religious beliefs, just that I believe they should play no part in a publicly-funded hospital operation.

And yes I’ll declare that I’d like to see the ACT Government walk away from any thought of buying Calvary in favour of starting over in Gungahlin.

trix said :

+1 to Bosworth.

+2

Had CraigT mentioned one of the time and money wasting activities of the ACT gov’t which isn’t based on the discrimination of a minorities sexual preference, then I suggest he would have universal support.

Personally, I think that encouraging renewable energy would be a more important goal then either non-productive windmills (public art) or obscure coded street signs (drive n txt…).

That’s not to say that PVs on every house is necessarily the way to go, but it does develop the market, which I do think is the way to go.

Aurelius said :

CraigT’s got a good point though Bosworth. The Stanhope regime is obsessed with stuff that dooesn’t really matter, and neglects its core responsibilities of governing.

+1 to Aurelius

+1 to Bosworth.

CraigT’s got a good point though Bosworth. The Stanhope regime is obsessed with stuff that dooesn’t really matter, and neglects its core responsibilities of governing.

CraigT, perhaps you would be more concerned about legislative discrimination if you had experiened it too?

Let me guess – you’re a 40-something white male married christian heterosexual homeowner with children?

It’s worth pointing out that while the ACT Government obsesses about homosexual “marriages” for the benefit of the 18 Canberrans who give a toss, and while they pursue the expensive ideological vendetta against Calvary Hospital’s provision of morality-based healthcare services, we remain the Australian state/territory producing the LEAST of our power needs from renewable sources. I think we manage to average about 2%.

Yes, even those red-necked Queenslanders produce more renewable power than the politically-correct hypocrites who run the ACT Government.