Governments were like greedy landlords when they misrepresented the renewable energy industry, says David Payne.
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A solar power supporter, Mr Payne said NSW consumers paid 34¢ a kilowatt for their power and in Canberra, 21¢ a kilowatt.
"The differences are not about carbon taxes or renewable energy targets. The difference is how governments and utilities have maintained their networks," Mr Payne said.
A speaker at Sustainable House Day at Googong on Sunday, Mr Payne said NSW governments of both main political sides had plundered profits from state-owned utilities, and had not maintained poles and wires and now were making the public pay.
"It is like me going to my tenant, who I have been renting my house to for five years and saying, well look, you have been a great tenant, you have always paid your bills on time, but I let the house go to rack and ruin, so I'm going to up your rent so I can afford to pay for the fixtures."
Builder George Tanchevski opened this north-oriented house (pictured) to promote sustainability. It has had two courtyards, cross ventilation, large eves, thermal cladding, double-glazed windows, block-out blinds and high ceilings.
A state manager for a solar company, Mr Payne says he is supporting lobbyists keeping pressure on to maintain the Renewable Energy Target, which had put 15 per cent renewables into the Australian energy market towards the 20 per cent target by 2020.
"It is not costing the government any money to run the program, why kill it off?," he said.
"When you put a 5 kilowatt solar system on, you are producing at Canberra or Googong 103 renewable energy certificates. Each one of those if worth $36 today. So that's about $4000.
"Those certificates are bought by us as an upfront discount to the customer and sold by us to power companies to offset their renewable energy target."