The Australian Conservation Foundation has welcomed Labor's $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries program as new polling for ACF shows 77% of voters would be more likely to vote for a party or candidate that ran on a 'free solar for all Australians' platform.
"We welcome this package to firm up the electricity grid, cut the cost of household batteries by up to 30% and help decouple Australia's power supply from climate-heating coal and gas," said ACF's CEO Kelly O'Shanassy.
"Around four million households already power their lives with Aussie sunshine.
"Batteries allow households to harness sunshine from the middle of the day for use at night.
"This program should see more than a million more batteries installed by 2030.
"Rooftop solar and batteries cut household electricity costs by thousands every year, unlike the Coalition's plan for expensive, high-risk nuclear plus gas, which would force Australians to pay thousands more in power bills.
"We are pleased to see $800 million of this program set aside to help people in social housing make their homes use energy more efficiently and $100 million allocated to energy upgrades at community facilities," she said.
Meanwhile, YouGov polling for ACF shows 77% of voters would be more likely to vote for a party or candidate that committed to free solar for all Australians.
The polling of 1000 voters in January found:
- 46% have solar power installed at their home
- 90% of those who do have solar say it saves them money on power bills
- For those who don't have solar, the biggest barriers to getting it were cost (40%) and renting (36%)
"Powering Australia with sunshine is an important step towards decarbonising our electricity grid - and it's popular. Every home should have access to solar," Ms O'Shanassy said.
