THE SA Liberals Party has announced a major election sweetener by promising means-tested grants for the installation of solar energy battery storage for households.
The party has also pledged to make electricity more affordable through a multi-prong energy solution strategy.
According to the Liberal Party, the average household power bill would be cut by $302 per year once the measures are fully implemented.
The plan includes development of stronger connections between South Australia and the National Electricity Market through a $200m fund.
It is estimated the average battery storage grant will be $2500 and reach 40,000 homes.
Liberal Party leader Steven Marshall said the policy aims to encourage residents to invest in rooftop solar to take pressure off the electricity grid and lower household bills.
“We are going to back South Australians who want to take charge of their electricity generation and consumption,” Mr Marshall said.
He said the battery program would focus on South Australians, not celebrity billionaires.
“Greater interconnection will enable us to export more of our renewable energy when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and import reliable baseload energy when we need it,” the Opposition leader said.
“The Liberal energy solution takes into consideration the contracted commitments the government has already locked us into and then improves on them.”
To secure the South Australian electricity grid until key elements of the Liberal Energy Solution were in place, he said a Liberal government would continue to lease emergency back-up generators until 2019.
After that, a reverse auction system would be implemented to ensure additional emergency generation is available and avoid wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on a government-owned power station.
“The Liberal Energy Solution will deliver benefits to electricity consumers every day rather than lock up taxpayers’ money in a power station that will rarely be used,” Mr Marshall said.
“Labor’s electricity experiment has delivered the most expensive and least reliable electricity system in Australia.
“A Marshall Liberal Government will end Labor’s dangerous experiment and deliver cheaper electricity.”
