{"id":22685,"date":"2018-07-10T06:39:21","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T20:09:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/?p=22685"},"modified":"2024-08-20T11:21:51","modified_gmt":"2024-08-20T01:51:51","slug":"qld-interest-free-solar-loan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/","title":{"rendered":"Queensland&#8217;s Interest Free Solar Loan Scheme Is Kind Of Sad"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-22758\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld.jpg\" alt=\"qld interest free loans\" width=\"1220\" height=\"649\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld.jpg 1220w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld-300x160.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld-768x409.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld-1024x545.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1220px) 100vw, 1220px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The Queensland Government recently confirmed the details of their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.epw.qld.gov.au\/about\/initiatives\/affordable-energy-plan\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">interest free loan scheme<\/a> for rooftop solar.\u00a0 Michael &#8212; the guy who does the real writing work on this blog instead of mostly just stringing together old jokes as I do &#8212; wrote about this and the conditions that have to be met to qualify for a loan in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/queensland-solar-battery-loan-grants-mb0643\/\">this article here<\/a>.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Update 25th January 2024:\u00a0 The QLD interest free loans scheme for solar and batteries has ended.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve had a look at the details of the scheme and I&#8217;m afraid I don&#8217;t find it very impressive.\u00a0 The total cost to the Queensland public will come to a few million dollars and because of this low level of funding the number of available loans will come to less than one per 500 households in the state.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s good that the Queensland Government is supporting an energy source that isn&#8217;t coal, but they don&#8217;t seem to be putting a lot of effort into this.\u00a0 My impression is they wanted votes for being environmentally friendly during the last election, but now it&#8217;s time to walk the walk. Unfortunately\u00a0they seem to be doing the absolute minimum they can get away with.\u00a0 In the United States they have a word for this &#8212; greenwashing.\u00a0 But then those Americans <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=B01e7n4RzZc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">have a word for everything<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>A Missed Opportunity<\/h2>\n<p>The loans are &#8212; inaccurately &#8212; aimed at lower income Queenslanders but as only about 3,500 loans will be made the total number of people helped will be small.\u00a0 To me it seems like a missed opportunity.\u00a0 If the Queensland Government wanted to promote solar and help lower income families but didn&#8217;t have the resources to do a proper job, they could have achieved both goals at no cost to the tax payer by simply:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>reducing the daily supply charges on electricity bills<\/li>\n<li>making up for the lost revenue by slightly increasing the price per kilowatt-hour.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Poor people are generally frugal when it comes to electricity use, so supply charges make up larger a percentage of their bill compared to rich energy guzzlers.\u00a0Reducing supply charges reduces this inequity and encourages the uptake of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/solar101.html\">rooftop solar<\/a> by improving its economics.\u00a0 It also provides an increased incentive for improved energy efficiency.\u00a0 Personally, I think supply charges should be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/supply-charges\/\">eliminated altogether<\/a>, but at the moment I&#8217;ll take what I can get.\u00a0 While the Queensland Government might meet some resistance if they took this approach, they have strong armed electricity retailers in the past and I presume they could do it again.<\/p>\n<p>Other options that are available include putting solar on state owned buildings and making solar loans to councils and businesses at the same interest rate at which the state can borrow.<\/p>\n<p>But unbelievably no-one in the Queensland government asked for my counsel, so the soar loans program is what we&#8217;ve got.<\/p>\n<h2>Solar Now &#8211; Batteries Later<\/h2>\n<p>The loans for rooftop solar are available now while loans and grants for 500 battery systems and 1,000 combined solar and battery systems will be made available later in the year.<\/p>\n<h2>Loan Amounts &amp; Payback Time<\/h2>\n<p>The interest-free loans are for up to $4,500, paid back monthly over 7 years with no fees.\u00a0 If you borrow the maximum your monthly payments will be $53.57.\u00a0 According to the Queensland Government, the maximum amount is enough to pay for a 3 kilowatt system.\u00a0 A system this size facing north in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/installers\/cities\/brisbane\/\">Brisbane<\/a> will generate an average of around 12 kilowatt-hours a day<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#en-22685-1' id='enref-22685-1' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(22685)'>1<\/a><\/sup>.\u00a0 This will save the typical household around $50 a month with the exact amount depending on how much of the solar electricity is self consumed. \u00a0As the savings are likely to be around the same as the payments it&#8217;s kind of like getting a free solar system after 7 years, which is a pretty good deal if you can get it.<\/p>\n<h2>The Loan Conditions<\/h2>\n<p>In order to qualify for an interest free loan a household must:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Own a home.<\/li>\n<li>Receive Family Tax Benefit Part B.<\/li>\n<li>Have spent $1,000 on electricity in the past 6 months or $2,000 over the past 12 months.<\/li>\n<li>Show they have some kind of reliable income to pay back the loan.\u00a0 This includes pensions.<\/li>\n<li>Not receive Queensland&#8217;s old 44 cent solar feed-in tariff.<\/li>\n<li>Have it installed by one of only 22 approved installers.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>One thing that doesn&#8217;t appear to disqualify a household is already having solar.\u00a0 As long as you aren&#8217;t receiving the old 44 cent feed-in tariff it seems there is nothing stopping you from getting a loan to put a second solar system on your roof.\u00a0 (I am so going to get my parents to apply for this.<sup class='endnote'><a href='https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#en-22685-2' id='enref-22685-2' onclick='return hhEndnotes_show(22685)'>2<\/a><\/sup>)<\/p>\n<h2>New Home = No Loan<\/h2>\n<p>People often want to buy a new solar system when they build or buy a new home.\u00a0 But you will have to have lived in your home for at least 6 months before you can get a zero interest loan.<\/p>\n<h2>It&#8217;s Inaccurately Aimed At Low Income Families<\/h2>\n<p>The Queensland Government says the loans will provide&#8230;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;&#8230;support to households that otherwise would not have access to upfront capital to invest in a solar PV system.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And they sort of achieve this by only offering them to people that receive Family Tax Benefit B.\u00a0 But this covers a lot of ground.\u00a0 This is who the Australian Government&#8217;s Department of Human Resources says can get it:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_22716\" style=\"width: 536px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-22716\" class=\"wp-image-22716 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/benfitb.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"526\" height=\"207\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/benfitb.jpg 526w, https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/benfitb-300x118.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 526px) 100vw, 526px\" \/><p id=\"caption-attachment-22716\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image: Department of Human Resources<\/p><\/div>\n<p>While this can include the very poorest of Queenslanders who make ends meet by stealing birds from spider webs, it can also include households with a total income of up to $127,686, which is the point where Queenslanders start wrapping their vegemite sandwiches in gold foil and drinking XXXX from platinum tinnies.<\/p>\n<h2>Only Big Consumers Of Electricity Need Apply<\/h2>\n<p>To qualify for an interest free loan, a household must have paid $1,000 in electricity bills over the past 6 months or $2,000 over the past 12 months.\u00a0 Going by Queensland&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ergon.com.au\/retail\/residential\/tariffs-and-prices\/general-supply-tariffs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tariff 11<\/a> that comes to 2,310 kilowatt-hours over 6 months or 4,620 over a year.\u00a0 The is about equal to what the average two person home in Brisbane uses.\u00a0 The trouble with this requirement is low income homes are often careful with their electricity use and consume considerably less than the average.\u00a0 This means they may not qualify for a loan that is meant to help lower income Queenslanders.<\/p>\n<p>The environmental benefits of rooftop solar are the same whether self-consumed by the home or exported to the grid. The cynical part of me &#8212; pretty much all of me &#8212; thinks the Queensland government doesn&#8217;t care about those environmental benefits. I think they only allow large electricity users in their scheme to increase the total electricity bill savings they can claim responsibility for.<\/p>\n<h2>An Inadequate Number Of Installers<\/h2>\n<p>If you want an interest free loan there are only\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.qld.gov.au\/community\/cost-of-living-support\/loans-for-solar-eligible-suppliers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">22 eligible installers<\/a> in Queensland.\u00a0 The reason why there are so few looks like an attempt to ensure people will receive high quality installations as all of them are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/cec-installers-retailers-members\/\">CEC Approved Retailers<\/a>.\u00a0 There are <a href=\"http:\/\/www.solaraccreditation.com.au\/retailers\/approved-solar-retailers.html#searchResults\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">about 40<\/a> CEC Approved Retailers in Queensland, so I don&#8217;t know why only 22 can be used.\u00a0 Excluding shonky installers is not a bad idea, but I think the Queensland Government has set the bar too high and excluded a large number of installers who do high quality work but aren&#8217;t in the CEC Approved Retailer category.<\/p>\n<p>The scheme could result in over $15 million in extra solar installation business in less than a year.\u00a0 Spread between only 22 businesses that&#8217;s a reasonably hefty amount each and it might be fairer to spread that out more evenly.<\/p>\n<h2>Funding For Less Than 0.2% Of Queensland Households<\/h2>\n<p>While many households won&#8217;t meet the requirements to qualify for a loan there is not going to be a shortage of applicants because the funding is so limited.\u00a0 The total number of available loans comes to less than one per 500 Queensland homes.\u00a0 The government says around 3,500 interest free loans will be available and there are 5 million people in Queensland in around 1.9 million households.\u00a0 This comes to about one loan per 540 homes.\u00a0 So if you want one, you&#8217;d better be quick.<\/p>\n<h2>Total Cost Is Probably A Few Million<\/h2>\n<p>If 3,500 loans are made for the maximum amount of $4,500 then the total loan amount will come to $15,750,000.\u00a0 At the moment the Queensland Government can borrow money at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.qtc.com.au\/rates\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">under 2%<\/a>.\u00a0 If an average interest rate of 2% over 7 years is assumed then the total amount of interest will come to around $2,360,000.\u00a0 This means that with administration costs the entire scheme will probably cost tax payers a few million dollars.\u00a0 Unless of course they are really bad at administration, in which case it could cost more.<\/p>\n<h2>Battery Grants &amp; Loans Don&#8217;t Make Sense<\/h2>\n<p>The rooftop solar installed with the loans will have a clear environmental benefit, directly reducing the amount of electricity generated from fossil fuels.<\/p>\n<p>Later in the year grants and loans will be made available for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/battery-storage\/comparison-table\/\">home battery systems<\/a> and for combined solar and battery systems.\u00a0 If these batteries were being installed where they would assist the functioning of the grid or would be used to help take remote communities off the grid, then subsidizing them through grants and zero interest loans may make sense.<\/p>\n<p>Otherwise, the government is being bloody stupid because in Queensland home batteries are a clear <a href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/does-battery-storage-help-or-hurt-the-environment\/\">environmental negative<\/a>\u00a0that don&#8217;t make economic sense. Both of these things could change in the future, but at the moment the Queensland Government is planning to spend taxpayer money in a way that will both harm the environment and make the state poorer overall.\u00a0 They should be ashamed of themselves because that&#8217;s what the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.couriermail.com.au\/news\/queensland\/taxpayers-to-foot-mammoth-games-bill\/news-story\/029b859f2ecea59d377320e5b42db539?sv=1741a79750b96632a02515eba9d5bb54\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Commonwealth Games<\/a> are for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Queensland Government recently confirmed the details of their interest free loan scheme for rooftop solar.\u00a0 Michael &#8212; the guy who does the real writing work on this blog instead of mostly just stringing together old jokes as I do &#8212; wrote about this and the conditions that have to be met to qualify for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":22758,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-solar-policy","entry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Queensland&#039;s Interest Free Solar Loan Scheme Explained<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Queensland Government have just kicked off interest free loans for solar, with batteries to soon follow. Here&#039;s what you need to know about it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Queensland&#039;s Interest Free Solar Loan Scheme Is Kind Of Sad\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Queensland Government have just kicked off interest free loans for solar, with batteries to soon follow. Here&#039;s what you need to know about it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SolarQuotes Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SolarQuotes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-09T20:09:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-08-20T01:51:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"649\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ronald Brakels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@BrakelsRonald\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@solar_quotes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ronald Brakels\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d0ce1779b3f5cb67cb4f146732af2fc7\"},\"headline\":\"Queensland&#8217;s Interest Free Solar Loan Scheme Is Kind Of Sad\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-09T20:09:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-20T01:51:51+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\"},\"wordCount\":1662,\"commentCount\":10,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Solar Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/\",\"name\":\"Queensland's Interest Free Solar Loan Scheme Explained\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/qld-interest-free-solar-loan\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.solarquotes.com.au\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/interest-free-qld.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-09T20:09:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-08-20T01:51:51+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Queensland Government have just kicked off interest free loans for solar, with batteries to soon follow. 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