greenvalue.com.au
Government Subsidies (Grants)
This information is for my clients in the Northern Rivers region of NSW and might be incorrect elsewhere!
It's difficult to find your way through the jungle of government grants, and some of the government's own web pages are not up-to-date, which doesn't help either...
| ATTENTION: a new statement, released by Hon. Peter Garrett on Friday, the 19th of February 2010, advertised fundamental changes to the Green Loans Program! The interest free loans will not be continued after the 22nd of March 2010, subsidies for insulation are cancelled until a new programme will be introduced, and the rebate and conditions to receive subsidies for replacing a electric hot water systems have been changed. Households are, at this stage, still eligible for Free Home Sustainability Assessments, but without qualifying for an interest free loan! 1300 778 451 is the number of a new enquiries hotline if you want to find out how these changes affect you, or complain about missing reports! Some information on this page is now out of date - my apologies! |
1. Federal Grants
Basically the federal government is currently offering 2 prominent grants, and a couple of less publicised grants - these are (to the best of my knowledge):
- LivingGreener.gov.au: between $1,000 and $1,600 to improve your home
Please read the following carefully!
Each household can receive this federal grant once to improve their home - this funding is available to home owners and renters!
Within this scheme the most publicity (and advertising) is received by the “Free Home Insulation” - but there are a couple of other options which attract higher grants (since the insulation rebate has been reduced to $1,200) and, in my opinion, the best are real Solar Hot Water systems! I call them real, because currently heatpumps are often wrongly named “Solar Hot Water”; a real Solar Hot Water system involves solar panels (1 or more) on your roof to heat the water by the sun. Heatpumps work (to put it very simplistically) a bit like an air-conditioner in reverse: they are using warm outside air to heat the water.
More information about each of the three items on this greenvalue page. - Green Loans:
The Green Loans Programme provides:- detailed, quality Home Sustainability Assessments (my job); and
- access to Green Loans of up to $10,000, that are interest free for up to a maximum of four years, to make the changes recommended in the assessment.
Funds provided under the Green Loans Programme can be used to make up the difference to government funding (eg. to pay the remainder towards the installation of solar hot water or rain water tanks), for large investments like photo voltaic solar power panels, and for other measures outside the government funding, e.g. awnings, renovations to provide proper climatic zoning inside the house, installing better insulating windows, etc. You cannot apply for a Green Loan without a Home Sustainability Assessment! - National Rainwater and Greywater Initiative:
up to $500 to install rainwater tanks or greywater systems
Rebates of up to $500 are available to households for either the purchase and installation of a new rainwater tank, which is connected for internal use of the water for toilet and/or laundry use, or the purchase and installation of a permanent greywater treatment system. There are a number of conditions connected with this grant, the most important are- you must be the home owner
- the property must be connected to mains water supply
- the installation is being connected for internal re-use of the water for toilet and/or laundry use ('plumbed in')
- everything must be installed by a licensed plumber
On top of federal grants there are state based subsidies and, in some cases, local grants.
2. State Grants
Most State based grants can be combined with the Federal subsidies under the Green Loans Programme, so you might be able to reduce the cost of planned investments even further. Most popular in NSW are probably
- NSW hot water system rebate: $300
between $300 and $1,200towards energy efficient HWSThe subsidy is calculated by Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs) under the Mandatory Renewable Energy Target (MRET - more about that later on this page);on the 15th of January 2010 this grant has been cut to a flat $300 for all heat pump or solar hotwater systems; the reduced amount applies to all invoices issued on or after this date. Previously home owners in our area could expect around $800 in state rebate towards a solar hot water system. - NSW rainwater tank rebate: up to $1,500 towards rain water tanks
This subsidy is split into components of the water tank installation; for details check out the link. You can also use part of this grant for the purchase of a rain water tank if you are not connected to mains water; most other conditions match those of the federal grant. - Residential Rebate Program: most NSW rebates can be found on this page
QLD Government Grants: the government of Queensland provides this step-by-step grant locating tool - somehow, when I visited the site, it had very limited functionality, and some grants listed had expired over 1½ years ago (eg. the smart energy grant, closed May 2008) - c'mon, a government should do better (with our tax money)!
3. Local Grants
At this stage I only know of one significant local rebate:
- Rous Water Tank Rebate has been extended until 30th June 2010
If you are planning to install a rainwater tank of over 2000 liters please refer to the page link above to calculate your rebate elegibility, as it is quite complex.
Several of the above mentioned rebates are in part funded by you, as the householder, trading in your RECs (Renewable Energy Certificates) to the installer. Their current value can be looked up at the “Green Energy Markets” web page. In the long term, with increasing uptake of energy efficient installations, the value of these RECs will probably decrease, so trading them in at current market value is not such a bad choice.
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© 2009-2010 Juergen Klein / greenvalue.com.au - The site owner has attempted to ensure that all information and links provided on this web page were accurate at the time of writing. However, regulations change quickly and there can be numerous different aspects to individual circumstances and conditions; hence greenvalue.com.au recommends that you research thoroughly all available information before committing to any investment. The proprietor of greenvalue.com.au can not be held liable for any damage whatsoever, which may arise as a result of errors, omissions, or changes to the information appearing on this website. We will use all reasonable means to correct errors and omissions as quickly as practicable after becoming aware or being notified of these.
© 2009-2010 Juergen Klein / greenvalue.com.au - The site owner has attempted to ensure that all information and links provided on this web page were accurate at the time of writing. However, regulations change quickly and there can be numerous different aspects to individual circumstances and conditions; hence greenvalue.com.au recommends that you research thoroughly all available information before committing to any investment. The proprietor of greenvalue.com.au can not be held liable for any damage whatsoever, which may arise as a result of errors, omissions, or changes to the information appearing on this website. We will use all reasonable means to correct errors and omissions as quickly as practicable after becoming aware or being notified of these.