John MacDonald: The Greens' solar plan doesn't stack up

The Green Party wants us to electrify everything, saying the current fuel crisis is a good reason to produce as much of our own energy as possible.  Which, by the way, is kind of ironic don’t you think? The Greens wanting us to produce our own energy, but not wanting us to drill for oil and gas?  Nevertheless, that’s what co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick said in the party’s State of the Planet speech yesterday.  She wants to kick things off with solar panels. And one of the Greens’ policies in this year’s election will be cheap government loans for solar panels and batteries.  Which I think is one of those ideas that sound good but, when you think about it for more than five minutes, the cracks start to appear.   Nevertheless, Chlöe Swarbrick says cheap government loans would cut the upfront cost barrier that stops people going solar.  And she says it could cut household power bills by $1,000-a-year.  Which all sounds fine. But would it be enough to make me go solar? Probably not.  Because the thing i can’t get past with solar, is the upfront cost and the mystery that surrounds the so-called financial benefits.  You will have seen and heard the stories I'm sure about people paying all the money to get solar panels on the roof at home and not seeing their power bills get any cheaper.  There are also the conflicting reports about the merits of selling solar energy back into the national grid. Whether the payback is worth it.  Until that murkiness no longer exists, I don’t see myself rushing to go solar anytime soon.  As for this idea of cheap government loans for solar panels and batteries, here’s the issue I have with it.  Yes, it would take away the upfront cost. But debt is debt. Irrespective of how low the interest rate is.  And, while the greens claim you might end up with cheaper power bills, you’d still have this debt to service.  So your monthly power bill might be cheaper, but you’d still have to service the loan from the government.  According to the energy efficiency and conservation authority, a small-to-medium solar set-up will cost somewhere between $8,500 and $11,500.  That’s just for the panels. The batteries, on top of that, can range from $5,000 to $15,000.  So let’s go with the median prices and say that your panels will cost you around about $10,000 and the battery around about $10,000, as well. So, $20,000 all up.   In the scheme of things, that isn’t all that much. But, according to the energy efficiency and conservation authority, it takes on average seven-to-10 years for solar to pay for itself.  For the money saved on power to pay back the upfront cost of installing solar.  And that’s where this policy from the greens doesn’t stack up. Because if it’s going to cost $20,000 upfront and they say people are going to save $1,000 a year on their power bills, then it’s going to be 20 years before their solar set-up pays for itself.  And that, for me, is enough to say thanks, but no thanks.  LISTEN ABOVESee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.