Hi all.
I just want to urge everyone to email the the Office of the Renewable Energy Regulator (ORER) and demand that a 'plain english' description of a REC, and what the consequences of selling them are, for ordinary australians.
After reading Mark Gilbert's fantastic letter in this issue of Renew and the informative article about REC's my eyes were opened up to the potential problem.
Many people are selling the their RECs or 'greeness' of their renewable system and just not realising the consequences due to a lack of awareness of what a REC represents or because businesses are asking people to give up their REC's for an up-front discount on the product(mainly solar hot water systems) and people do not think to investigate further.
The ORER website is ranked first in Google Australia when the word RECs is searched. Most people, if they can bothered, would look for answers there. The info is quite expansive for eligibility, claiming, prices and the creation, etc. of REC's, but nowhere does it explain in plain, easy to understand english, what a REC represents in laymans terms.
Go there now and have a look,if you can find it let me know, I'll take this all back.
http://www.orer.gov.au/recs/index.html
So please, if you dont know what a REC - and the selling of them - represents, find out in the latest Renew and the ATA website and then email ORER demanding a 'plain english' description of a REC and the consequences of selling them, it is their responsiblity.
Then go inform as many people as possible. Its our responsibility as dark green citizens to spread the word and make sure the right info is filtering down to average aussies.
Thanks Mark and the ATA.