Page 2310 - Week 06 - Wednesday, 22 June 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
In my third paragraph, (1)(c), I note the community concern about the accuracy and the value of compulsory household building inspections, including energy efficiency ratings, at the time of sale. This is an issue that I have been raising in the Assembly for a number of years. I moved a motion about it in April 2009 to require ACTPLA and JACS at that time, through the sale of premises act, to vastly improve the auditing—both desk and physical auditing—of energy efficiency ratings.
People who are buying homes need to know that they can trust the ratings which have been given to a home that they want to purchase. They do not want to move in and then find out that the rating was wrong and that they have to spend significantly more on heating and cooling than they expected. I am very pleased that the government has committed extra resources to ACTPLA to deal with this issue in this year’s budget. An amount of $1.4 million over four years has been allocated. I must say that I am very hopeful of substantial improvement in this regard and I commend the government for doing this.
The next couple of points are really matters of fact: energy efficiency ratings are based on the star ratings per square metre. That means, all things being equal, bigger houses will require more energy to run them. It is a fact but it is unfortunately a fact that many people are not aware of. Also, household equipment such as hot-water services and heating and cooling systems significantly influence energy consumption. It is not just the fabric of the house.
The most important issue as far as energy consumption is concerned, which is not included in ratings and I do not think probably can be, is the behaviour of occupants. This is a variable. This is why, from a household point of view, I do not think anyone is suggesting going down the routes that have been gone down with commercial buildings where we publish the actual energy use of offices. That is now compulsorily being required by the commonwealth government. We do not do it in the household area because all households are so different.
However, the community does know that this is important. A 2008 ABS study found three per cent additional value for each star rating on the resale of a house. That was found in the ACT because, of course, the ACT is the only jurisdiction to have mandatory reporting of energy efficiency ratings on resale or sale of houses. This, of course, was a Greens initiative from last century.
It is really worth while for homeowners to look at improving their energy efficiency. For example, you could look at insulating the ceiling of your house. That is possibly only going to cost you a couple of thousand dollars but it would mean that a house that sells for, say, $400,000 or $500,000 could easily be sold for $10,000 more with a fairly minimal amount of insulation done to it.
Paragraph (1)(g) relates to changes to regulate energy efficiency ratings assessors in the CO(L)A 2004, which commenced on 1 March 2011. They have not yet been fully implemented because key regulations have not been finalised. This is really unfortunate. What has happened with the changes in the CO(L)A Act is that the government has gone part of the way to addressing the issue. It has made energy
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video