The solar industry is launching a marginal seats campaign to “save” the renewable energy target (RET) that underpins its business, as fears grow the Abbott government intends to drastically reduce, or even abolish, the policy.

The Australian solar council is deeply concerned the government’s promised review of the target, which requires 45,000 gigawatts hours of power to be sourced from renewables by 2020 and provides a subsidy to people installing solar systems, could result in changes that would cripple its industry.

Chief executive, John Grimes, says 4,500 small solar-installing businesses – predominantly working in outer-urban and regional electorates – would be lobbying local members and asking their customers to do the same.

Grimes argues changes made by the former government had already pared back the effective subsidy offered by the RET for solar, and the existing benefit (about $1,000 for a household putting in a solar system worth $6,500) is already legislated to wind down over time.

In opposition, the Coalition was highly supportive of the solar industry and critical of constant changes to government incentives.

The environment minister, Greg Hunt, once jumped out of a plane to support a previous “save our solar” campaign on the grounds that Labor’s decision to means-test the then $8,000 subsidy were putting the industry into “freefall”.

Guardian Australia understands the RET review is now likely to be overseen by the prime minister’s department, rather than by industry minister Ian Macfarlane or Hunt.

Both Hunt and Macfarlane have said the Coalition will keep its election promise to retain the RET which underpins the business case for solar, wind farms and other forms of renewable power after the carbon tax was scrapped.

Details are expected by the end of the month, with the government struggling to get around the legislative requirement that the review be undertaken by the climate change authority, which it intends to abolish but has not yet been able to.

Before Christmas prime minister Tony Abbott said the RET may have outlived its usefulness and become a burden on business.

“We support sensible use of renewable energy, and as you know it was [the] former Howard government which initially gave us the RET and at the time it was important because we made very little use of renewable energy … but we have to accept that in the changed circumstances of today, the renewable energy target is causing pretty significant price pressure in the system and we ought to be an affordable energy superpower … cheap energy ought to be one of our comparative advantages,” he said.

His chief business adviser, Maurice Newman, has called for the renewable energy target to be scrapped and several Coalition backbenchers are also pushing for it to be axed.

Hunt has canvassed compromise options with industry including changing the existing target that 20% of energy come from renewable sources by 2020, to one requiring 25% from renewable sources by 2025. The plan would overcome the effect of falling electricity demand on the real impact of the RET.

Modelling released last week suggested abolishing the RET could cost 2,000 jobs in the solar panel industry.

The solar council is also planning a social media and email campaign and is calling for public donations to help “save solar”.