A new survey shows that Australians are overwhelmingly in favour of governments funding the development of renewable energy but are wary of paying more for their electricity as a result.
A Newspoll survey conducted for the News Corporation owned newspaper The Australian found that 64 per cent of respondents believed that using renewable energy to generate electricity was a good idea provided they did not have increased prices.
The survey shows that about one third said backing the development of renewable energy was a good idea and said they were willing to pay for it.
Only a two per cent claimed it was not a good idea.
The survey found broad support for government funding of the development of renewable energy, with 88 per cent in favour and 8 per cent against.
Newspoll said again, people in an older age group were less supportive, with 81 per cent for and 13 per cent against; however, there was little difference in opinion between the sexes.
The findings come after a survey earlier this year found managers in the resources and energy sector and in key energy-using sectors such as manufacturing wanted the Renewable Energy Target (RET) retained or even lifted.
The conservative Liberal-National government is currently awaiting a review of Australia’s RET, which mandates 41,000GWh of electricity be sourced from renewable energy by 2020.
The majority of economic modelling has found that while the target will see a slight increase in power prices in the short to medium term, that burden will be more than offset due to the downward pressure the scheme will place on wholesale electricity prices.
The modelling also shows that beyond 2020 electricity prices will decrease if the RET is retained.
