Victorian owner-occupiers will get paid thousands of dollars to install solar panels under a $1.24 billion election promise by the state Labor government.
Families living in homes worth less than 43 million and with a combined income of up to $180,000 under the plan revealed by Premier Daniel Andrews on Sunday.
Labor says 650,000 homeowners in 10 years will get access to more than $4000 each to install panels, paying back half over four years with their savings which are predicted to be about $900 a year.
"We know families are doing it tough, the time for describing the problem is over, we have to take action," Mr Andrews told reporters.
The package will not be available to landlords and renters, with Mr Andrews saying federal incentives are already in place for investment properties, but flagging more energy announcements to come.
For households already in the process of getting solar panels, a $68 million fund was also announced to pay people half through a grants scheme.
The program will be overseen by a new agency, Solar Victoria, and the government will support the accreditation of 4500 electricians to install the panels.
The announcement comes less than a week after Mr Andrews declared privatisation of electricity production had failed Victorians by forcing bills up, not driving them down.
When asked if privatisation should never have happened, Mr Andrews said people could "make up their own minds" by looking at their bills, however he also said the state would not be buying back power plants.
"We can't afford to go back and buy those power stations, instead we'll put a power station on everybody's roof," he said.
Moorabbin residents Rik and Susannah Bowen-Wheatley told reporters their family of five has wanted to install solar panels, but the up-front costs had been prohibitive.
"We manage, but our winter bill was over $1000 - I can think of other things I would rather be doing with that," Ms Bowen-Wheatley said.
Environmental groups have applauded the move, but the opposition say the plan feels "undercooked" and the figures don't stack up.
"There's no money in there for running the agency or the running of the loan scheme," opposition energy spokesman David Southwick told AAP.
He also said the scheme sounded reminiscent of former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd's ill-fated pink batts scheme and there needed to be safeguards to stop people being scammed by telemarketers and dodgy installers.
Australian Associated Press
