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Forum Index : Solar : penny pinching
| Author | Message | ||||
| brucedownunder2 Guru  Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
HaHa,, I just heard the Govt. is going to take back the solar rebate that pensioners earn .. They will offset the excess produced solar earnings against the centerlink pension assets test. Gee, I'm about to lose my 80 cents per day --shocking .. How many aluminium cans will I have to collect per day to make up for this ? Oh, well , back to my baked beans and toast. Poor pensioner Bushboy |
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Robert_VK2BBR Regular Member  Joined: 31/12/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 67 |
hi Bruce, where did you hear that? cheers Robert 1555 W grid connect system since Jan 08 both vehicles running on modified, used vege oil. |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
OK got my thinking cap on ... Off peak tarrif is legal if it's hard wired to houshold appliances,,hot water ,swimming pools, etc. I hard wire my off peak to my big battery charger and dur ing off peak charge my 1500 Ah 48v bank .. During my high usage time use this cheap power .. If any over before low volts cut off, feed it back through the legal inverter to the grid .. It cost 8 cents per Kwh., now the utility pays me 50 cents per Kwh. Just thinking ,no action ,,,YET. bruce Bushboy |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Robert, on skychannel news this morning 6.30am and again at 7 am. Bruce. Bushboy |
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| Robert_VK2BBR Regular Member Joined: 31/12/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 67 |
Bruce, i thought people were allowed to earn a certain (small) amount before it effected the pension. But even so, it is a mean spirited act to count solar earnings as effecting the pension. cheers Robert 1555 W grid connect system since Jan 08 both vehicles running on modified, used vege oil. |
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| brucedownunder2 Guru Joined: 14/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1548 |
Yes, you are right. pensioners can have around 850,000 in assets (excluding home, which can be millions) before the they get nothing.. many pensioners get far less than the full pension (majority) It's the medical card that is a nice thing to have I'm not whinging,I'm ok,just feel that they will spend more in admin thatn it's going to get them. Bruce Bushboy |
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| neil0mac Senior Member  Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
I've had a friend suggest that before long, they will charge home solar power users for the sunlight they collect. (Like they charge the Murray-Darling irrigators for the water they have 'allocated' but can't actually get.) How long will the air we breathe be free? (But they'll have to make me do a lung capacity test first, cos they're not 100% efficient? - unless they copy the above tactic!) |
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| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
Or do you mean the $80,000 income limit where the Health benefit card cuts out? Couple part pension cuts out at $1,086,500 of assets. |
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Gizmo Admin Group  Joined: 05/06/2004 Location: AustraliaPosts: 5078 |
Since we breath out CO2, will we be charged a carbon tax. If I hold my breath, can I claim a tax credit? The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago, the second best time is right now. JAQ |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hi Gizmo Don't fart because methane is worse than CO2 so they will charge you more. No increased subsidy for holding a fart and you cant hold it long enough to get to Canberra. The pensioner people where telling me how well off we are getting a subsidy on the electricity until I showed them that the GST was $5 more than the subsidy. Anyway we shouldn't worry about what the pension people do, just do our own thing and get what you can. The government is running out of money so expect more of this grab for cash. All the best Bob Foolin Around |
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Downwind Guru Joined: 09/09/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2333 |
[quote]The government is running out of money so expect more of this grab for cash. [/quote] The goverment has not run out of money, they gave it all away and now they want it back. Just watch how greedy the Rudd goverment will get if they get back in at the next election. They are not game to hit us all to hard this side of an election, as at present they look to be the nice guys with all the cash handouts. But wait! if they get back in they will want all the money back and then some more as well. Labour has a good history of emptying the cookie jar in the first term and then making us pay dearly in the next term for their miss management. What a joke "Mr song and dance" minister Peter Garrett is too, he could not manage a piss up in a brewery. Pete. Sometimes it just works |
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| VK4AYQ Guru Joined: 02/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2539 |
Hear Hear Never truer words spoken Bob Foolin Around |
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KarlJ Guru Joined: 19/05/2008 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1178 |
Bruce JAYCAR is now selling an inverter solution that does just that, charges on off peak and feeds in during peak times. Not a bad thing for the grid as a whole but perhaps expensive method of doing it. Battery life and cycling limitations would mean you need a real big battery to make a real impact. like 200KW battery 50KW charge and 40KW feed in daily..... Perhaps you could run your own power station Luck favours the well prepared |
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| dwyer Guru Joined: 19/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 574 |
Hi Bruce About penny pinching Read this Pensioners will have their payments cut if they sell excess electricity from their solar electricity systems, the federal government has confirmed. Former policeman Rod Campbell, 63, collects a carer's pension while looking after his wife, and spent $11,000 to install solar panels on his home in the NSW town of Port Macquarie. He said he discovered the government's rules would lead his pension to be cut. ''The government preaches that it wants you to cut your carbon footprint and as soon as you do it they punish you for it,'' Mr Campbell told News Ltd papers. Mr Campbell said the issue was confirmed in a letter from the office of Families Minister Jenny Macklin, which said the social security test applied to any money from an electricity company ''either as a direct payment or as a credit or rebate on a person's electricity bill''. ''We could suffer a loss of pension for trying to do a good thing,'' Mr Campbell said. A spokeswoman for Ms Macklin said: ''If a pensioner sells power back to the grid and receives cash payments or a rebate on their power bill that is counted as income for social security purposes.'' Family First Senator Steve Fielding said the situation was "penny pinching by a stingy government'' at a time when pensioners faced rising electricity prices. ''People have done the right thing and signed up to help the environment like the PM wanted them to and now they're being penalised for it. It's just disgusting,'' he said. This don't look very good for me too as l am penison due workplace injuyed later on if have little or no money in the bank if l nor wife will end up in nursing home if you can afford it Federal Govement will take and sell my family home. Just like my other relatives leave nothing left for their own kids. That other hidden trap 
Dwyer |
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| dwyer Guru Joined: 19/09/2005 Location: AustraliaPosts: 574 |
Hi Bruce About penny pinching Read this Pensioners will have their payments cut if they sell excess electricity from their solar electricity systems, the federal government has confirmed. Former policeman Rod Campbell, 63, collects a carer's pension while looking after his wife, and spent $11,000 to install solar panels on his home in the NSW town of Port Macquarie. He said he discovered the government's rules would lead his pension to be cut. ''The government preaches that it wants you to cut your carbon footprint and as soon as you do it they punish you for it,'' Mr Campbell told News Ltd papers. Mr Campbell said the issue was confirmed in a letter from the office of Families Minister Jenny Macklin, which said the social security test applied to any money from an electricity company ''either as a direct payment or as a credit or rebate on a person's electricity bill''. ''We could suffer a loss of pension for trying to do a good thing,'' Mr Campbell said. A spokeswoman for Ms Macklin said: ''If a pensioner sells power back to the grid and receives cash payments or a rebate on their power bill that is counted as income for social security purposes.'' Family First Senator Steve Fielding said the situation was "penny pinching by a stingy government'' at a time when pensioners faced rising electricity prices. ''People have done the right thing and signed up to help the environment like the PM wanted them to and now they're being penalised for it. It's just disgusting,'' he said. This don't look very good for me too as l am penison due workplace injuyed later on if have little or no money in the bank if l nor my wife will end up in nursing home if you can;t afford it bad luck therefore Federal Govement will take and sell my family home. Just like my other relatives leave nothing left for their own kids. That other hidden trap
Dwyer |
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| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
What else could Jenny Macklin quote publicly? Even Centrelink says that their figures for income assessment are only a 'guide', so get specifics before drawing conclusions. What she might have said was that it is only of relevance to the pensioner IF they have other income that pushes them above the threshhold for determining when the pension is reduced. |
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GOFJ Newbie  Joined: 22/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 27 |
If the Govt. starts sticking it into pensioners for return on investment then this must be classed as a business (green power generation) which would then allow them to claim depreciation on capital investment, refund of GST and maintainance costs? Jack |
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| grub Senior Member Joined: 27/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 169 |
Now that is an idea. Register yourself as an electricty provider, then claim all costs. If you get paid for the power produced and you get taxed on the money for the power produced, it must stand that you are a power producer. Good one GOFJ  |
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| neil0mac Senior Member Joined: 26/12/2009 Location: AustraliaPosts: 210 |
Unless you are producing more than 10KW per hour you are classed as an SGU (Small generating unit). You need to spend serious dollars (30KW plus) to get into the 'Power station' classification! |
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| grub Senior Member Joined: 27/11/2007 Location: AustraliaPosts: 169 |
"Doing R&D mister taxman, honestly. Have to start somewhere and build up from there. Don't want to overextend the finances, what with the global financial crisis and all that." 
Seriously though, even a "hobby" business can make tax claims. Will have to check the ATO to see. |
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