Tenant and Low-income Solar Savers Scheme - Live Q&A

Hi, thanks for your question - common in the ACC area to be heritage listed. 

If you have a local heritage listed house, the solar panels cannot be visible from the street.  This means the available roof space you have for solar is on the back of your property. 

If you have State heritage listed property, you will require Development Approval. We waive development fees for installing solar panels on residential properties.

We recommend contacting Council's Development Assessment team to discuss these issues if you are unsure of your particular circumstances.  The number is 8203 7185.

Hello, this is a good question! We will not be able to guarantee that developments will be prevented in the future to reduce impacts on existing solar PV systems.  However part of the consideration of household suitability for solar panels will include assessing nearby future development plans and the impacts it might make to shading of participating properties.  This will enable potential participants to identify any risks as part of their considerations in participating in the scheme.  Once the systems are installed, the current owner of the property will be liable for the repayment period.

Hi, the saving for each household will be dependent on your household electricity use and also how much electricity you use during the day and night.  The more electricity used during the day the bigger the saving.  For example, if you use only a small amount of electricity during the day and the majority of solar electricity is exported this will only receive between 6-8c/kWh feed in tariff.  However, if the solar energy is being used during the day by the household, this will avoid buying energy from your electricity retailer at a cost of 30-35c/kWh. 

The Darebin City Council scheme produced average electricity savings of approximately $400 per year.  Therefore after repayments on the solar panels of $300 per year this resulted in residents being better off by around $100 per year.  We are aiming for similar outcomes to the Darebin scheme.

Hello, thanks for your question. We would include warranty provisions as part of the tender process for solar providers.  As an indication, installation warranties can be up to 10 years, inverter warranties around 5-10 years and warranties on system performance 25+ years.  Failures under warranty would be the responsibility of the supplier/installer.

Hi, good question.  The aim of this proposed scheme is to assist rental, low-income, concession and pensioner households in accessing solar PV.  If the household also has heritage listing that will be a consideration when it comes to assessing the suitability of the household for solar panels. At this point we have not yet determined the exact criteria for eligibility; we are identifying the level of interest and it will be determined based on the feedback we get through the survey and registration of interest process.

Hi, thanks for your question.  This is something we would consider as part of the procurement process.  However, as the scheme is focused on affordability, we would need to ensure that it wouldn’t add too much extra cost to the solar panels and therefore affect the financial benefit to participants.  Also, we need to consider technical issues, such as the compatibility of the hybrid inverters to different battery systems.

Hi thanks for your question.  This is yet to be determined based on the feedback we get through the survey and registration of interest process.

Hi, thanks for your question, a few people have been asking this.  If the scheme goes ahead we will be going to open tender to find a preferred supplier and installer of solar panels.  The location of solar panel manufacturing is likely to be considered in this process.

Hi, thanks for your question.  Yes that is correct.  However, this is an average saving to provide an indication of the types of savings achievable.  Actual savings will depend on the energy use of each individual household.

Hello thanks for your question.  We have not yet determined if there will be an interest rate charged and if so what the rate will be.  I encourage you to register as there is no commitment and we can keep you informed of the proposed scheme design.