CANBERRA, July 19 (Xinhua) -- An expert said on Thursday that politicians who promoted fear about rising electricity prices in Australia are responsible for the country's solar panel uptake.
The proportion of Australian households on the National Electricity Market (NEM) with solar panels installed has risen from 0.2 percent in 2007-08 to 12 percent, an increase from 14,000 total households to 1.8 million.
Tristan Edis, a director of Green Energy Markets and renewable energy analyst, said the growth could be attributed to politics of fear surrounding rising energy prices.
According to Edis, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott, a conservative who held office from 2013 to 2015, was largely responsible for the rapid uptake.
"I say Tony Abbott was the best friend that the solar industry ever had because he injected so much fear into the electorate, some of it actually entirely misplaced, around rises in electricity prices," Edis told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Thursday.
"(Abbott) filled people with so much fear about their electricity bills and didn't explain the real reasons for why their bills were going up.
"People, not really understanding what's going on, thought - 'what's the easiest thing for me to do? I'll take control and generate my own electricity'."
A report by Green Energy Markets in July revealed that rooftop solar panel installations in 2018 were on track to triple the previous record for a calendar year.
According to data from the first six months of the year, the total capacity of panels installed by Australian households and businesses in 2018 was on track to surpass 4,000 megawatts (MW). The previous record for a single year is 1,336 MW in 2017.
An analysis of the NEM by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission found that households with solar panels saved an average of 750 Australian dollars (554 U.S. dollars) on their power bills every year.