Page 1923 - Week 05 - Thursday, 3 May 2012
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
Members interjecting—
MADAM DEPUTY SPEAKER: Mr Hargreaves! Mr Seselja! We are not having conversations across the chamber.
MR CORBELL: Over the life of the measures implemented in households, the saving for households is in the order of $2,000 per household. Those are the real and direct savings to households. That is why the Labor government proudly calls this the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Bill—because it saves households money and it saves the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions. It is a win-win situation.
Madam Deputy Speaker, let us talk further about the types of measures that Canberrans will see delivered through this scheme. Let us look first at renters. There has been some criticism, in the media and otherwise, that renters will not be eligible for assistance under this scheme because the changes that will be made will be made only to the fabric of households and will require the permission of landlords. That is not the case. For example, a rental tenant who installs one stand-by power controller and a water-efficient shower head could achieve savings of $287 per annum for an up-front cost of only $140 after incentives as a result of this scheme. A further $45 per annum could be saved by purchasing a high efficiency refrigerator. Those are the types of measures that a rental tenant will be eligible for because of this scheme.
Equally, a homeowner who installs insulation could increase the star rating of their house by generating savings for themselves, or indeed for a tenant, in the order of around $500 per annum, increasing the value for them as well as for the people who occupy the premises. Further, a homeowner who replaces an inefficient resistive electric heater with a mounted split-system reverse-cycle heater could be up for annual savings of around $280 per annum, while improving their comfort and indeed their house’s resale value. A further annual saving of around $450 could be made by replacing electric storage hot water with a gas-boosted solar system.
Because of the 25 per cent priority household target which is incorporated into this legislation, low income householders are expected to be provided with additional incentives to participate, because it will be a legal obligation on the electricity company to ensure that 25 per cent of all households assisted are households who fit into that low income category. They will need to employ specific tactics to engage these groups and overcome some of the up-front cost barriers that would otherwise act as a disincentive for those households to participate.
This is a bill that helps households. This is a bill that will reach at least 70,000 households across the ACT. That is half of all Canberra households. And 25 per cent of those households will be low income households. This is a scheme which is for the good of our community. It is for the good of low income earners. It is for the good of those who are most exposed to shifts in utility prices.
To suggest, as those opposite do, that this is some sort of subsidy from households to large businesses shows extraordinary ignorance and a failure to understand how this
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video