Page 4603 - Week 12 - Thursday, 15 October 2009
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .
CERT will oblige energy suppliers to install home-based energy efficiency measures for people on low incomes, those with disabilities and the over-70s. Suppliers must give at least 40 per cent of CERT funding to these priority groups. So CERT is about the improving of energy efficiency; increasing the amount of electricity generated or heat produced by microgeneration; increasing the amount of heat produced from biomass; and reducing energy consumption by introducing behavioural measures to encourage people to save energy.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ms Burch): Mr Corbell, your time has expired.
MR CORBELL: I sought leave of the Assembly to make a statement.
MADAM ASSISTANT SPEAKER: In fact, what happened was that you moved that the Assembly take note of the paper. So we are now actually in the debate which—
MR CORBELL: Well, I seek leave to conclude my statement, Madam Assistant Speaker.
Leave granted.
MR CORBELL: The energy suppliers are obliged to spend £1.5 billion on the scheme, but could pass the costs on to consumers. The UK government has estimated that the potential cost to the average consumer, if passed on in full by energy suppliers, will be a total of around £97 over the three-year period that CERT will run. The UK government has also estimated that on average the annual ongoing benefit per household in terms of lower energy bills or increased comfort would be around £31 a year for the lifetime of the measures. Of course, these benefits will continue for many years, in some cases several decades, beyond the CERT period.
So CERT delivers environmental benefits by reducing carbon emissions, social benefits by reducing fuel poverty and economic benefits in promoting innovation by creating market opportunities for new or more efficient technologies and by providing incentives for demonstration and market transformation.
Madam Assistant Speaker, without wanting to pre-empt the government’s policy processes, I want to indicate to the Assembly that I have directed my department to explore the costs and benefits in CERT-style legislation here in the ACT. I believe the benefits are considerable, and initial estimates indicate that we could save up to four million tonnes of CO2 equivalent through such a program.
The fifth learning I want to focus on is that governments must shape the market and deal with its failures. Intelligently crafted government policies and regulations, focused on the things that matter most, drive real change. In particular, this approach is critical to switching on the full power of the private sector—its innovation, its energy, its creativity. When the private sector can translate the triple bottom line of government policy into its own single bottom line, then change at the rate and extent necessary to deal with global warming change will happen.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . .