John MacDonald: Should the taxpayer chip-in for your solar panels?

If you’ve got solar panels on the roof, you’ll be loving the blue skies. 

And a solar energy advocate is saying today that those of us who don’t should be getting financial support from the Government. 

Mike Casey says New Zealand is one of the few western countries that doesn’t provide subsidies for solar energy. He says, in Australia, people can get subsidies to convert to solar and - guess what - more of them have. Way more.  

I think this is brilliant thinking - but not necessarily a brilliant idea. Because, if we could do all that magic wand stuff - which we can’t - but if we could, I’d say yep - Government subsidies for anyone and everyone. 

But there’s no magic wand and so we can’t. So I reckon there should be Government support to get solar into all new builds. 

I was talking to someone who, as they put it, went down the solar panel rabbit hole - in that they looked into it. But they just came to the same conclusion that I think most of us have - and still do - and that’s that the numbers just don’t stack up.

You can spend the money getting the panels on the roof, but it’ll take you years before the savings in electricity costs justify the spend. 

But getting more and more people onto solar energy is a much more realistic way for the Government - and I’m not just talking about the current Government, but all Governments - it’s a much more realistic way of trying to get those power costs down. 

Because what other options are there? The Government of the day can thump the table and tell the power companies to stop ripping us off. 

But that’s rarely worked with the supermarkets. So as if thumping the table is going to work with the power companies. 

The other option up the Government’s sleeve is restructuring the electricity market. But when do you think we’re going to see that happen? 

I was reading a history of New Zealand’s electricity reforms back in the 80s and 90s and it took about four years for those reforms to happen. So any changes the Government wants to make to the current electricity market is going to take a fair amount of time, isn’t it? 

So, if it wants to, the Government can do that. But I think it needs to be looking for some quick-wins at the same time. And subsidised solar conversion would be a quick win. Because, like anything in life, if you focus on the things you can actually influence - then that’s when you start to make progress. 

And providing taxpayer support to get solar power happening more widely, then that would be something the Government could make happen as soon as it wanted to. 

There are about two million occupied homes in New Zealand and around 60,000 of them have solar panels.  

It took New Zealand more than seven years to get 30,000 houses with solar. The other 30,000 took three years. And so now we’ve got 60,000. Which is about 3 percent of houses connected to the national grid. 

Compare that to Australia, which heavily subsidised solar, simplified the installation process, and invested in workforce training for installers and the general figure is about 35 percent (compared to our 3 percent). 

In many neighbourhoods in Australia, though, 50 percent of houses have solar panels. In some, as many as 80 percent. Thanks to government subsidies. 

Which our Government could bring in today, if it wanted to.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Canterbury Morning's Podcast with John McDonald
from News Talk ZB.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
If you have got solar panels on the roof, I
bet you are loving that blue sky. I bet you're
loving it. And a solar energy advocate is saying today,
but those of us who don't, we should be getting
financial support from the government to get solar panels. Mike
Casey is his name, and he says New Zealand is

(00:35):
one of the few Western countries that doesn't provide subsidies
for solar energy. He says, in Australia people can get
subsidies there to convert and guess what, lots of them have,
more of them have way more. And I think that
this is brilliant thinking, but not necessarily a brilliant idea

(00:59):
as this guy is putting it out there today, because
if we could do all that magic wand stuff, which
we can't, but if we could do the magic bond stuff,
I would say, yep, government subsidies for anyone and everyone
to get the solar panels on the roof. But there
is no magic bond and so we can't do that.
So I'm going to tweak it a bit and I

(01:20):
reckon that there should be government support to get solar
into all new builds. I was talking to someone earlier
about this, and as they put it, they went down
the solar panel rabbit hole, and that they looked into it,
but they just came to the same conclusion that I
think most of us have, and the conclusion most of

(01:41):
us still do come to, and that's that the numbers
just don't stack up. Because you can spend all that
money getting the panels on the roof ab but it'll
take you years before the savings and the electricity costs
justify the spend or what's another way putting it, it'll
be years before the panels pay themselves off. As we
say things, though, I reckon that getting more and more

(02:04):
people onto solar energy is a much more realistic way
for the government. And I'm not just talking about the
current government here, but all governments. I reckon it's a
much more realistic way of doing something to try and
get those power costs down because what are the other options. Well,
the government of the day they can thump the table
and they have been thumping the table, and they can

(02:25):
tell the power companies to stop ripping us off. It's
really worked with the supermarket, so ah, so as if
thumping the table is going to work with the power companies,
the other option up the government, sleever, is restructuring the
electricity market. But when do you reckon we're going to
see that happen. I mean, this is not me having
to go at the current government. I'm just saying that
rearranging the setup we have at the moment will take ages.

(02:49):
Because I was reading, Yeah, I know sounds rivetting, but
I was reading a history of New Zealand's electricity reforms
back in the eighties and nineties earlier this morning, and
it took about four years for those reforms to happen.
So many changes of the government wants to make to
the current electricity market, it's going to take a fair
amount of time, isn't it. So if it wants to, yep,

(03:10):
the government can do that, but I think it also
needs to be looking for some quick wins at the
same time, and subsidized solar conversion would in no doubt
be a quick win because, like anything in life, if
you focus on the things that you can actually influence,
then that's when and where you start to make progress,
isn't it? And providing financial or tax payer support, whatever

(03:32):
you want to call it, to get solar power happening
more widely. Then that would be something the government could
make happen as soon as it wanted to. Here's some
numbers for you. There are about two million occupied homes
in New Zealand and around sixty thousand of them have
solar panels. It took New Zealand's more than seven years
to get the first thirty thousand with solar. The other

(03:54):
thirty thousand took three years, and so now we've got
sixty thousand out of two million. Three percent of all
houses connected to the national grid have solar panels. It's nothing,
is it. You compare that to Australia, where they heavily
subsidized solar, where they simplified the installation process, and where
they also invested in workforce training for installers, and the

(04:15):
general figure is about thirty five percent compared to our
three percent. In many neighborhoods SIG in Australia, fifty percent
of houses have solar panels, some of them as many
as eighty percent. It's all down to the government subsidies,
which our government could bring in today if it wanted
to as opposed to or as well as spending years
overhauling the electricity market and in parallel do them both

(04:41):
at the same time, do something to reduce the demand
from domestic users for hydro and gas generated electricity by
providing funding support for solar panels and being realistic, as
I say, I don't think the idea of being floated
today by solar advocate Mike Casey that taxpayer support be
provided to anyone and everyone. I think the starting point

(05:02):
would have to be making it mandatory to have solar
panels on new build houses and providing government support to
enable them.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
For more from Category Mornings with John McDonald, listen live
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