The Rudd government's decision to means test the $8000 solar panel rebate, that sparked a major downturn in the solar panel industry, was based on inappropriate and outdated data.
Federal Minister for Climate Change and Water, Penny Wong, told a Senate Estimate Committee, last night, that the Government had used data from a survey conducted by the Alternative Technology Association (ATA), to help inform them of household gross income levels of solar rebate recipients.
The ATA survey looked at the net income of households, says the ATA's Energy Policy Manager, Brad Shone.
"We fear that the data on net income, in our survey, may have been misinterpreted as gross income levels".
"If this is the case, the Government has made a serious error in its calculations and the solar industry and Australian families, wanting to act on climate change, are paying the price" says Mr Shone.
Mr Shone says the ATA's survey was never intended to gather income data.
"It was a survey of solar households' energy efficiency and energy conservation habits. Income data was merely background information".
Mr Shone says the survey data was not relevant to current household incomes because the rebate had been in existence for at least seven years before the ATA conducted the survey.
"It is inaccurate to assume that current income bands would be reflective of the incomes of households who installed their solar system seven years ago".
Mr Shone says the ATA's questionnaire may also be out of date as it was conducted 12 months ago.
"Since then, the number of recipients of the rebate has doubled, so it can not be assumed to be representative of the present situation".
Mr Shone says the effect of the means test has been to limit the demand for such systems, and significantly increases the cost to households who both want to help the environment and are able to afford such a system.
