Greg Hutchinson has kindly shared with SEE-Change his ATO Private Ruling on Income Produced from Solar Panels. He has also obtained a separate ruling regarding how the GST should dealt with.

Download Greg's Private Ruling on Income and Private Ruling on GST.

Although SEE-Change is recognised inside the ACT for our support of domestic solar installations, we’d also like to encourage you to consider GreenPower for your source of electricity.

Solar Capital – SEE-Change’s commitment

As part of our vision for Canberra as Australia’s ‘Solar Capital’, SEE-Change has joined forces with local company Armada Solar to offer our second Solar Co-Operative Purchase.

Our first Bulk Buy increased the number of solar arrays on roofs in the ACT by 30% in one round, for a total of 58 solar electricity systems and 20 solar hot water systems in 2007/2008.

Some of us have been wondering about the GST received with the feed-in tariff. We are currently being paid more than the 50.05cents/kWh because ACTEWAGL has add 10% GST to this value.

I rang the ACT Government and these are the facts regarding if you have to pay tax on the feed-in tariff and what to do with the extra GST you have received.

The SEE-Change June Newsletter is now available.

The newsletter contains articles written by fellow SEE-Change members and will also keep you up-to-date on what each of the group have been doing.

Following the completion of our first solar collective purchase, we're now embarking on the second round. We've learnt a great deal from the first experience and are planning to bring that knowledge to this process. We have held a very successful meeting and a working group has formed to organise Mk 2, under the guidance of a Reference Group of the earlier organisers. This is particularly for people whose household incomes are below $100,000 in order to take advantage of the Federal Govt's solar rebate which concludes on June 30.

I'm sure many of you were stunned to hear the Rudd Government settled on a 5% target for Australia's emission reductions by 2020. We were pleased to hear both Simon Corbell and the Greens want much higher targets for the ACT. The ACT Legislative Assembly Climate Change Committee will be asking for input into the development of an ACT Target by July 2009. SEE-Change has been asked to contribute to that debate and we're keen to know what you think. Click here to tell us your views. 

We want to reduce the ecological footprint of our suburbs by 30% in 3 years. It's an ambitious challenge and we need your help. Sign up to our Eco-Challenge and become part of an Australia-wide movement to tread more lightly on the planet. Why sit on the sidelines when our common future is at stake?

Ceiling Insulation

Take advantage of the government’s free ceiling insulation (promised as part of the stimulus package). The government has chosen to offer up to $1600 to more than 2 million homes as insulation is typically the most cost-effective household energy-efficiency improvement. The benefits include additional comfort in summer and winter and up to 40% reductions in heating and cooling bills.