Question Without Notice No. 488 asked in the Legislative Council on 26 June 2018 by Hon Peter Collier
Parliament: 40 Session: 1
SYNERGY — RENEWABLE ENERGY BUYBACK SCHEME 488. Hon PETER COLLIER to the minister representing the Minister for Energy:
I refer to Synergy's role in administering the renewable energy buyback scheme.
(1) Can the minister confirm that prior to the installation of solar panels, customers must notify Synergy before a connection can take place?
(2) Are processes currently in place to ensure that the information collected by Synergy during the renewable energy buyback scheme application process is not passed on to other parts of the business involved in selling solar panels to customers?
(3) If yes to (2), what processes are in place?
(4) Has the minister or Synergy received any complaints regarding its solar business?
(5) If yes to (4), how many complaints have been received and what was the nature of those complaints?
Hon STEPHEN DAWSON replied:
I thank the Leader of the Opposition for some notice of the question.
(1) Synergy plays a role in the solar installation process as it must approve a customer's application for connection, advise the network operator when a system is planned to be installed, raise the request for a compliant meter to be fitted and process all eligible renewable energy buyback scheme—REBS—applications for customers.
(2) Yes.
(3) In excess of 90 per cent of REBS applications are lodged online by the customer and are fully automated. The remaining applications, which are lodged manually, are processed at Synergy's Joondalup processing centre. Synergy's SolarReturn business is located in the Perth office and has no access to REBS application data.
(4) Yes.
(5) Synergy is aware of nine queries regarding its solar business, including six raised through the current minister's office. The nature of the complaints relates to REBS applications and Synergy selling solar systems.