A promised discount program to support the installation of solar collectors on thousands of rental objects in Queensland should begin this year, but many important details are not yet.
The budget of Queensland 2025–26 by treasurer David Janetzki on Tuesday and took 26.3 million US dollars for the charged solar for tenants.
The initiative was announced for the first time by LNP leader (and now QLD Premier) David Crisafulli in March last year as an election obligation. After the LNP won the election in October, the program was hardly mentioned, which led to the KRISFULI government being tested by the Queensland Conservation Council in January this year to comply with its promise.
As part of the program, authorized landlords receive discounts of up to 3,500 US dollars to install solar power systems on their rental objects. It is expected that around 6,500 rental households benefit from the system and, depending on the location and energy consumption profile, save more than $ 700 per year depending on the location and energy consumption profile. The program should run over three years.
Grind the numbers (and missing details)
Based on these numbers:
6,500 (number of recipients) x 3,500 USD (maximum discount) = USD 22.75 million
That leaves 3.55 million US dollars (13% of the financing) – but what? Certainly the management of the program will not cost 3.55 million US dollars, since the basics and basics already carried out in an earlier trial version (more on this in something) have been carried out.
But wait, there are more. Put in the corresponding budget paper (page 91):
“In addition, the financing of 4.2 million US dollars over 2 years is fulfilled internally to support the delivery of the program.”
This is a fairly expensive undertaking.
Important details such as:
- Requirements for landlord authorization.
- Minimum/maximum system sizes and discount values.
- Guidelines for components and installers.
- Whether landlords can increase rents and how much.
- Almost everything else.
The last time that the charged solar for the tenant side of the QLD government has been updated was updated in April this year.
At the moment this scheme still seems to be a bladder of thought; Even if one financed now. Since we are already in half of the year, the Krisefulli government has to crack to roll out this system in 2025, as stated on the program information page.
Portable battery grants a better bet?
This would not be the first solar for tenant scheme in Queensland. The former Labor government carried out a process in 2019-20, but it continued. Maybe there was a good reason for this. The process, which also offered landlords up to 3,500 US dollars, made up to 1,000 discounts for rental objects in Bundaberg, Gladstone and Townsville available. Although the system was strongly promoted, only two thirds of the discounts were used.
Another state that still offers solar incentives for landlords is Victoria as part of its Solar Homes program. It offers a discount of up to 1,400 US dollars to authorized landlords for the installation of Solar panel systems on a maximum of two rental objects per financial year. I could not find out how popular (or in other ways) was the incentive.
Finn Peacock, founder of Solarquotes, is not convinced today that the solar panels subsidize for tenants who are the right way these days. Mainly because of the landlord’s resistance to sharing her own money.
In a phase postponement post in March 2025, he mentioned:
“Most Australian landlords treat their rental objects as lines in a table. They concentrate on one thing: shorten costs and maximize the rental income … Many already juggling close cash flows and no longer spend in advance, unless it is absolutely necessary.”
Finn suggested:
“Forget solar collectors for rentals. We help the tenants directly by giving you affordable, portable batteries and easy access to the cheap solar energy that the Australia grid is already flooding. Everyone wins.”
According to make rent, almost 36% of all queenslanders live in a rented house in Queensland – that’s about 1.8 million people.
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