Electricity prices in NSW will rise by more than 18 per cent for some households, due to higher network costs and the impact of the federal government’s Renewable Energy Target (RET) scheme. The state’s Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART) today released its final decision on the electricity prices that will apply from July 1. [...]
A clear majority of Australians want the nation to move towards 100 per cent renewable energy, a major survey suggests. Renewable energy campaigners spent three months door-knocking and meeting locals at shopping centres to clock up 14,000 face-to-face responses. They found that 86 per cent want Australia to be powered entirely by renewable energy somewhere [...]
The federal government plans to spend $12 million on a campaign to advertise its proposed emissions trading scheme (ETS). Climate Change Minister Greg Combet said the media advertising campaign would not be launched until the government reached a deal with the Australian Greens and independents on the ETS, which it wants to start from July [...]
Google says it is investing $US280 million ($265 million) to help finance home solar projects in the internet giant’s largest effort yet to promote clean energy. Google said on Tuesday the money would go to create a fund that will help SolarCity, a company that provides solar energy options for homeowners and businesses, to finance [...]
A failure to deliver on promised savings has consumers up in arms, writes Lesley Parker. The political row over NSW’s solar scheme might have subsided but regulators here and elsewhere in Australia are reporting a rising swell of consumer complaints about inappropriate sales, shoddy installations and billing problems as people start using their new solar [...]
Consumers face bill shock due to soaring power costs, writes Lesley Parker. Complaints-handling bodies are girding themselves for a surge in calls as power prices rise again and energy companies market themselves aggressively to consumers anxious about their bills. State ombudsmen have particular reason not to like the early, cold and wet start to winter, [...]
ONE of Australia’s largest rooftop solar panel retailers, Clear Solar, has gone into receivership, costing up to 40 people their jobs and prompting warnings from the industry of more closures in coming months. But household customers have been spared with Clear Solar being bought out by one of its creditors, the electrical wholesaler Middy’s, which [...]
Tony Abbott’s past as a climate change “weather vane” has come back to haunt him – again. The Opposition Leader has been shown spruiking a carbon tax in an old interview that was aired on Q&A on ABC Television yesterday. “If you want to put a price on carbon, why not just do it with [...]
