Conduct code to weed out dodgy solar panel retailers

Solar panel retailers will have to sign up to a code of conduct to prevent dodgy operators joining a state government scheme to provide panels to 700,000 households.

Solar panel retailers will have to sign a code of conduct
to participate in a state government scheme to put
panels on Victorian households. 

The code of conduct will set safety and consumer protection requirements for large and small solar retailers.

Read the story from The Age by Benjamin Priess - “Conduct code to weed out dodgy solar panel retailers.”

State Labor premiers savage Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy, setting up a COAG brawl

The Turnbull government faces an uphill battle getting states to sign up to its new energy plan, as Labor premiers savage it as a capitulation to Tony Abbott and victory for the coal industry.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull with premiers and chief ministers in Canberra.

The government will need all the national electricity market states – NSW, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania and the ACT – to agree to its national energy guarantee to implement it.

The plan to force energy companies to meet mandated standards of reliability and emissions reduction will require changes to national electricity law, which is state-based legislation that sets the rules for the market.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg briefed his state counterparts on the policy over the phone on Tuesday ahead of a face-to-face COAG meeting planned for late November. But initial reactions were not positive. 

Read the story by Noel Towell and Adam Gartrell in today’s Melbourne Age - “State Labor premiers savage Malcolm Turnbull's energy policy, setting up a COAG brawl.”