"Solar Flare-up will burn Every Pocket"

According to the Sun-Herald, NSW households will pay an extra $600 on their electricity bill over six years to cover the $2 billion cost of the Kineally government's failure to cancel the solar power scheme when concerns were first raised.

Apparently so far the government has refused to admit when it first became aware of the problem, although Country Energy was telling officials in May that the target had already been breached. The government "dithered until August" before holding its review, which only reported last week. There seems to have been no reason why the 60c tariff could not have been cut back then, or at least a sunset clause could have been put on the duration for which the 60c tariff would be paid. Instead because the government did nothing for five months, NSW taxpayers are now saddled with this enormous and quite unnecessary problem in addition to all the unavoidable factors that are forcing up energy costs.

And lots of honest and respectable businesses are likely to be forced into bankruptcy by their inability to sell the stocks of solar panels they built up, in good faith, to meet the government's promulgated solar panel program.

I am all for green policies, but this one seems to have done as much harm as the Federal government's aborted home insulation program. The cost of paying the excessive tariff is likely to delay investment in the cheaper and cleaner generating plants that NSW desperately needs.