Up to 1800 household solar electricity rigs are lying idle across Canberra, unable to be activated until they have been inspected for safety.
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And the agency responsible for the inspections says that it will be April before the inspection backlog is cleared.
The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate is facing 3000 electrical safety inspections across the city.
These include examinations of wiring in new homes and apartments, new student accommodation, new commercial premises, and alterations and additions to existing buildings.
But up to 1800 of the jobs are inspections of roof-top solar power generation rigs bought as part of the ACT Government's micro photovoltaic generation scheme.
The ACT has the nation's toughest safety inspection regime with systems having to pass tests by both directorate and ActewAGL before they can go live.
The Canberra Times reported on Sunday that half of the city's domestic solar systems were failing their inspections and a directorate spokeswoman said that the high failure rate coupled with the sheer number of households that signed up for the scheme was the reason for the work backlog.
''Given approximately 50 per cent of all first photovoltaic inspections fail, and that new bookings continue to come in, the directorate estimates the backlog as at 13 October 2011 should be cleared by April 2012,'' the spokeswoman said.
''These failed inspections then require a second inspection, following rectification.
''In some instances, a third inspection is required.''
The spokeswoman said a seasonal surge in the building industry in the fourth quarter of each year, with the demand for new home occupancy before Christmas, added to the workload for the team of 15 inspectors and seven administrators.
Liberals MLA Alistair Coe was on the attack yesterday, branding the whole micro feed-in scheme a failure.
''After ACT Labor cut the scheme early, people are now being forced to wait for the benefits they were promised,'' Mr Coe said.
''This is yet another broken commitment under this failed scheme.
''It's another reason why the ACT's solar feed-in tariff has proved to be one of the most inefficient and inequitable programs in the country.
''This is yet another shambolic, expensive mess for taxpayers caused by ACT Labor under this scheme.''
But Energy Minister Simon Corbell was unrepentant about the territory's tough inspection regime for rooftop solar systems.
''The ACT is the only place in the country that has a mandatory double inspection regime for every single PV installations and we do that so we don't have house fires, so we don't see the risk of electrocution,'' he said.
''So because we've seen that large failure rate, because we've seen the huge uptake in PV since the Federal Government's bringing forward of the closure of its rebate scheme, we've seen some delays.
''That's regrettable but public safety must come first and that continues to be the Government's approach.''