Tuesday, 18 February 2020

Ministers statements: Solar Homes program

Ms D’AMBROSIO (Mill Park—Minister for Energy, Environment and Climate Change, Minister for Solar Homes) (12:32): I am absolutely pleased to inform the house on how we are delivering on our commitments, with over 70 000 Victorians right now taking advantage of our Solar Homes rebates. Solar panels, solar batteries and solar hot-water systems are being installed in homes right across Victoria. We are doing exactly what we said we would do: delivering lower bills and delivering less pollution and more jobs for Victorians.

I was very, very pleased to have visited Shirlee Faram last week, a lovely lady living in Cranbourne who was able to install a solar system through her housing cooperative thanks to Solar Homes. For her this system will slash $800 off her power bills each and every year—$800. This means more money for the weekly shop, more money for life’s necessities and less money spent on power bills.

This is not the end of the story. We are seeing similar stories for many Victorians right across the state. There is a boom in Melbourne suburbs, and a whopping 41 per cent of our rebates are going to regional Victorians. This is a fantastic outcome. People are jumping on the solar boom, and we are absolutely delighted that Victorians are getting those savings in their pockets. If I could just highlight some of those booming suburbs and parts of regional Victoria that are doing so well and really taking full advantage of this progress—again, it is right across the state—Cranbourne has got 3699 applications for rebates, Benambra 1104, Tarneit 3637, Shepparton 1037, Yuroke 2357, Hastings 977, Bass 2070, Ovens Valley 971, Werribee 1906, Euroa 909, Melton 1582 and 900 in Ripon. That is a solar boom, and there are 700 000 more to go.