New funding for energy efficiency welcome but more needed to keep bills down 23 August 2016
Energy experts have welcomed a commitment of $18 million for key energy efficiency programs from Australian, state and territory governments, but warned that far more funding will be required to keep energy affordable for homes and businesses.
Energy ministers from the Australian, state and territory governments met on Friday 19 August in Canberra at the COAG Energy Council. Ministers jointly committed a modest $18 million to a range of actions in the National Energy Productivity Plan (NEPP), including:
- Raising energy efficiency standards for commercial and residential buildings
- Improving energy efficiency standards for appliances; and
- New energy efficiency rating tools for apartments and commercial buildings.
“The Energy Efficiency Council welcomes Australian and state governments’ support for improving standards for buildings and appliances. Appliance standards already save the average household over $300 a year on their energy bills,” said Luke Menzel, CEO of the Energy Efficiency Council.
“However, far more action will be required to fix our broken energy markets and keep energy affordable for homes and businesses. Without ambitious action we will fail to meet the Australian Government’s target to improve energy productivity (a measure of energy efficiency) by 40 per cent by 2030, and that will mean higher energy bills for Australians,” said Luke Menzel.
Last month, the Energy Efficiency Council released the Australian Energy Efficiency Policy Handbook which aims to kick-start a discussion about the actions necessary to meet Australia’s energy productivity target, and sets out a suite of evidence-based recommendations.
“The Energy Efficiency Council is looking forward to working with governments to take the ambitious action necessary to keep energy clean and affordable,” said Luke Menzel.
The Australian Energy Efficiency Policy Handbook is available at the EEC website: www.eec.org.au/handbook
Media contact
Rob Murray-Leach
Head of Policy
Energy Efficiency Council
M: 0414 065 556
E: rob.murray-leach@eec.org.au