More than three-quarters of Aussies haven’t considered rooftop solar: survey

A whopping 77 per cent of Australians say they haven’t considered getting solar, despite a rising uptake and declining costs, a survey has shown.

In a Finder.com.au survey of 1066 Australians, more than three-quarters of respondents said they had not considered solar, a third of whom said because it was too expensive.

The 23 per cent who said they would consider it also included those who already had panels installed.

Finder insights manager Graham Cooke said it was worrying that Australians still thought solar was expensive.

“It’s never been more affordable to get onto the solar system,” he said. “It does pay for itself relatively quickly and then we’re talking 40 or 50 per cent of your energy sorted so it does seem like a good option.

“Especially in the sunburnt country where there’s so much solar to be harvested.”

If the 23 per cent number of Australians interested improved, it would be a win for renewables, he said.

“You can look at it both ways,” he said. “If one in three households had solar that would be an increase and that would be positive.”

The figure loosely corresponds with previous research showing about one quarter of households in Australia now have rooftop solar.

Solar Whiz director Warwick Johnson said prices for solar had more than halved since 2012 and uptake was reaching record highs across Australia.

“And that’s in every state,” he said. “Except Victoria has come off the boil recently, for understandable reasons.”

Mr Johnson felt the high number of Australians who said they hadn’t considered it could be explained by existing biases.

“I expect that survey reflects that misconception that this is an expensive technology. And it was 10 years ago,” he said. “Australia’s solar prices are the cheapest in the world.

“We have an industry that’s hyper-competitive and has gotten very good about the sales of solar. It’s not a niche industry any more.”

Mr Johnson said the pandemic had made it easier to take the plunge into solar.

“There was already high uptake before the pandemic hit but there was also a bit of a home improvement bent since then,” he said. “It’s a great way to make some savings and it’s easy to get finance for.

“And on top of that more people are using electricity because they’re at home more.”

Comparison website SolarQuotes founder Finn Peacock agreed. “We had our biggest ever month in 11 years in August,” he said. “In August people inquiring about buying solar was just off the charts.

“In September it has dropped about 15 per cent from August’s numbers but we’re still 25 per cent up in this time last year. So it’s not what we’re seeing.”

Mr Peacock said despite some policy changes in South Australia and Western Australia making some buyers hesitant, the case for rooftop solar had never been better.

“We’re seeing record numbers and that’s being driven by COVID and it’s getting cheaper all the time,” he said. “People aren’t going on expensive foreign holidays.

“That often costs the same as a solar system. The pandemic has been really good for the solar industry.”