Letters to the editor | July 28, 2021

We are supposed to all sit back and show how interested we are in NAIDOC Week, yet we are not allowed to celebrate our foundation, our history, our culture - we are supposed to be ashamed of it.

I'm a proud Tasmanian, proud of our discovery. What happened in the past was shocking towards the Aboriginal people, but it is history.

We cannot continue to be held accountable for what happened.

Move on Nala and stop feeding off the sympathy you are getting from a small minority of Tasmanians as it is creating a divide in our community. We are all Tasmanians.

IF our judicial system worked properly, then the police would not be wasting their time on this matter.

Legal licensed gun owners pose no threat to society and are entitled to enjoy their sport without condemnation from the police or public.

As soon as our legal system starts to act in a proper and fitting manner which includes incarceration, limiting access to early parole, then the safer society will be.

IF we were to get an honest reporting of the "freedom protests" worldwide - that is Greece, France, Spain, Italy, England, Ireland and Australia from the mainstream media - maybe our state and federal leaders would realise just how close to breaking point the general public have become.

It absolutely amazes me that the Liberal party has moved so far away from the beliefs of liberty and that the spirit of the individual must be preserved, that liberalism means flexibility and progress, not tyranny and dictatorship and fear whereby the spirit of the people is being systematically removed.

Tracking down demonstrators and some real police brutality toward protesters proves to me that we no longer live in the free and lucky country.

WELL our highways are in question again.

We were promised a four-lane highway between Launceston and Hobart when Tasmania was in election mode. Now, Launceston to Devonport is in the news shortly after a double fatality.

A four-lane highway would be the best solution, however if we can't have a four-lane highway to Hobart, which is our main highway, then there is little doubt there will be a four-lane to Devonport, unless there is a political gain.

Hopefully if any works on any highway are to proceed, that will need to be of a better standard than the Midlands Highway: patch, patch, patch.

IN recent weeks there has been a lot of confusion regarding the decrease in the solar feed-in tariff rate, which coincided with substantial electricity price decreases of 7.11 per cent for residential customers and 11 per cent for small businesses for 2021-22.

While Aurora Energy does not play a role in setting the feed-in tariff rate and does not stand to profit from the decrease in the rate, it is important for us to provide some context to the discussion.

The standard feed-in rate for all regulated customers is set by the Tasmanian Economic Regulator and applies to all retailers operating in Tasmania. The regulator is independent from both Aurora Energy and the Tasmanian government. For the regulator, the most significant factor in setting the feed-in rate is the wholesale price energy retailers, like Aurora Energy, pay to purchase energy from generators.

Understandably, customers who have invested in solar generation would like the feed-in rate to be as high as possible. However, if the regulator were to set the feed-in rate above the rate Aurora Energy pays for energy from other renewable energy generators, the overall cost of purchasing energy would increase.

While customers with solar would benefit from the higher rate, the vast majority of our community who do not have solar would pay more. This would particularly disadvantage low income households who may be unable to make large investments, like installing a solar system.

Some readers with solar systems have also expressed concern that the retail price they are charged for their energy use is much higher than the feed-in rate they receive for the solar generation they export to the grid.

The amount Aurora Energy charges its customers for the electricity they use covers a range of costs associated with the electricity supply chain, including maintaining the electricity network. Because households and businesses generating solar power only pay for the wholesale energy cost and not other retail costs, setting the feed-in tariff at the same rate as the retail price would significantly overstate the value of the solar generation.

In terms of getting the most benefit out of a solar system, the same best practice applies for everyone. Unless customers have a battery or storage device, they will get the best outcome if they use power when the sun is shining.

Aurora Energy is here to support all of our customers, including those who have invested in solar.