FEED-IN TARIFFS GOOD FIRST STEP

Labor Dons Typical Pre-election Green Spots

www.tas.greens.org.au
The Tasmanian Greens today welcomed the Bartlett government’s move towards introducing feed-in tariffs for electricity fed back into the grid from small renewable energy systems, saying that it is a good first step.

Greens Leader and Climate Change spokesperson Nick McKim MP said that although it is a small step forward the announcement falls short of the preferred Gross Feed-In Tariffs scheme for which the Greens have been advocating over the last decade.

“Unless the Bartlett government goes further this is effectively a little more than a ‘mickey mouse’ scheme which will do little to drive distributed renewable energy generation in Tasmania,” Mr McKim said.

“Introducing a Gross Feed-In Tariff scheme is needed to make inroads and encourage the installation of small renewable energy systems at the residential and business level, as it will provide real incentives to move to renewables.”

“The government’s proposal will only offer people the same retail price as it costs people to purchase power from Aurora, and in no way compensates for the up-front capital costs of installing renewable technology.”

“In comparison, a serious Feed-In Tariff scheme offers people more for the renewable energy they supply to the grid, than the retail price.”

“Tasmanians won’t be fooled. This is another example of Labor pulling on the green spots just before an election, which they do attempt every time.”
Nick McKim MP Greens Leader