Victoria pledges $797m for Australia’s biggest household energy efficiency drive

Measures include a $1,000 rebate for low-income residents to replace old heaters and upgrades to 35,000 social housing properties

Victorians have been promised Australia’s biggest household energy efficiency drive, with the Andrews government pledging $797m to programs it says will cut power bills and greenhouse gas emissions.

Measures include a $1,000 rebate for low-income households to replace old heaters with modern split-systems, upgrades to 35,000 social housing properties and a new requirement that landlords keep rental properties at a minimum efficiency standard.

The state government said it would also extend existing incentive schemes for home solar and battery systems and offer a one-off $250 payment for concession card holders to help with bills.

Social welfare and environment groups said the commitments were likely to have an immediate impact, particularly for vulnerable households. They followed the government’s weekend announcement that it would spend $5.3bn building more than 12,000 public and community homes with a 7-star energy efficiency standard.

The state government said it would also extend existing incentive schemes for home solar and battery systems and offer a one-off $250 payment for concession card holders to help with bills.

Social welfare and environment groups said the commitments were likely to have an immediate impact, particularly for vulnerable households. They followed the government’s weekend announcement that it would spend $5.3bn building more than 12,000 public and community homes with a 7-star energy efficiency standard.

Luke Menzel, the chief executive of the national Energy Efficiency Council, said it was a “transformative investment” that would create thousands of local jobs, help the climate and save lives. He cited evidence that a similar New Zealand program led to $7 in benefits for every $1 spent, mostly through reductions in health costs and deaths.

Victoria’s energy, environment and climate change minister, Lily D’Ambrosio, said the Covid-19 lockdown meant most people had spent more on power bills than usual this year. “This pandemic has been hard enough without worrying about whether you can pay the power bill,” she said. “Not only will we help cover the cost, we’ll help Victorians make their home more efficient and fight climate change.”

The Coalition’s energy and renewables spokesman, Ryan Smith, said the help with energy efficient appliances was welcome but followed a substantial increase in electricity bills under Labor. He said a Coalition government would have given concession card holders a bigger rebate on electricity bills – $1,000 – and paid it directly to retailers, rather than require people to sign up online to receive it.

The Victorian commitment follows a cross-community push for governments to invest in improving energy efficiency to both stimulate the economy to drive a recovery from Covid-19 and help set up a long-term response to the climate crisis.

In May, groups representing business, the energy industry, property owners, unions and major investors wrote to the national cabinet arguing that Australia’s prosperity depended on eradicating greenhouse gas emissions, and that fixing inefficient buildings and industry should be a primary focus. They estimated a major national drive to improve buildings could create tens of thousands of jobs.

A similar case has been made overseas as part of a global call for a “green recovery”. The International Energy Agency has said energy efficiency upgrades are “job-intensive and strongly support economic stimulus goals”.

The Victorian announcement, which will form part of next week’s state budget, includes:

• $335m for 250,000 low-income households to replace old wood, electric and gas heaters with energy efficient split systems.
• $112m to seal windows and doors and upgrade heating, cooling and hot water in 35,000 social housing properties.
• $14m to expand a rebate scheme for efficient appliances.
• Increased funding for rebate schemes for rooftop solar, household batteries and efficient appliances.
• New minimum energy efficiency standards for rental homes, which the government estimated would benefit tenants in about 320,000 poor-quality properties.

Emma King, the chief executive of the Victorian Council of Social Service, said the commitments were “good for people, good for the economy and good for the planet”.

The Brotherhood of St Laurence’s executive director, Conny Lenneberg, said for many low-income households they would be the difference between “living in a bitterly cold home through the winter and a warmer, healthier home”.

Nicholas Aberle, a campaign manager with conservation group Environment Victoria, said the scale of the investment made Victoria “a clear leader” on energy efficiency. “It’s exactly the kind of economy-stimulating and job-creating climate solutions we wanted to see,” he said.

But Beyond Zero Emissions, a climate change think tank that recently released a “million jobs plan” to hurry the shift to a clean economy, called on the Victorian government to go further. Michael Lord, the group’s research lead, said it should aim to create net-zero energy “all-electric” homes that no longer relied on gas, and generated at least as much renewable energy as they consumed over the course of a year.

He said the nearly $800m commitment was “a good start” but the government could do more to stimulate private investment by setting up pilot schemes that showed net-zero energy homes were possible. “The closer to net-zero energy we build new homes and retrofit existing homes, the lower the running costs for the Victorians living in these homes,” he said.

Source : theguardian