Queensland Country Life

How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY

How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY
How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY

Story sponsored by Solar Link Australia.

With the end of financial year looming, now is the perfect time to reduce your power bills, tax bill and carbon footprint all in one go.

Solar expert Adam Dolkin, from Solar Link Australia, says the month of June is the perfect time for both businesses and households to invest in clean renewable energy.

He says June is the best time of year to not only take advantage of tax incentives but also reduced prices due to stocktake sales.

"At Solar Link we're currently trying to reduce our inventory before the end of the financial year so we're reducing our prices for the month of June," Mr Dolkin explained.

"(This is great news for businesses because), June is the deadline to be able to install a solar system and claim the instant asset write off," he continued.

"If your business turns over less than $10m a year, you can purchase any asset upto the value of $20,000 (plus GST) and you can write that asset off immediately. It doesn't need to be depreciated."

How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY
How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY

Mr Dolkin says this is perfect for anybody looking to go green and significantly reduce their overheads in the long run. It can also reduce your tax bill.

Best of all, he says, you can purchase a solar system and claim the deductions without it impacting your bottom line.

"The other thing you can do is enter into a chattel mortgage," Mr Dolkin explained.

"You can have the solar system installed for free and then you can just enter into a 36 or 48 or 60 month repayment schedule and pay for the system via a rental or leasing agreement," he continued.

"So, you can still claim the asset write off but you only have to pay for the system over time so it doesn't affect your cash flow."

However, business owners aren't the only ones that can benefit by purchasing in June, households looking to install rooftop solar can too.

By purchasing a system at reduced price, you can significantly reduce your repayments, meaning your system will "pay for itself" even quicker.

How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY
How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY

"As far as return on the investment goes, a solar system will - on average - pay for itself in less than three years," Mr Dolkin explained.

"Most households these days go with a 6.6kw system... which saves them on average around $450 to $550 per quarter..." he said.

"On average it works out to about $80 to $90 per quarter, per kilowatt that has been installed."

Depending upon the size of the system and the amount of electricity generated it is possible to gain credits on your account for excess power fed back to the grid.

Another compelling reason to go solar is to reduce your carbon footprint, Mr Dolkin says. According to NASA, there is currently more carbon in the atmosphere than at any other time in the last 400,000 years.

Last year, the world's leading authority on climate science - the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - warned we must drastically reduce our emissions in the coming decade to avoid a catastrophe.

How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY
How cut your emissions, power bills and tax bill before EOFY

The October 2018 report found that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require "rapid and far-reaching" transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport and cities.

It said global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 per cent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching 'net zero' around 2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air.

The IPCC warned if temperatures rise by 2°C we could see an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer at least once per decade and the virtual extinction of coral reefs.

It will also increase the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, bush fires and tsunamis, to name but a few.

"A typical 6.6Kw system will reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions by circa 8,000 kg CO2 / year," Mr Dolkin said.

For more information about the specials currently available, please click here. Alternatively, you can contact Solar Link Australia on 1800 155 597 or via email at: info@solarlinkaustralia.com.au

Story sponsored by Solar Link Australia.