Page 2870 - Week 07 - Thursday, 7 June 2012
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fund and relabelled it the carbon neutral fund from $3 million to $5 million. We note that this is a rolling fund so that all investments translate to savings. We question whether the new fund is sufficient to meet the task at hand of achieving government carbon neutrality, as has been stated, and this is particularly so because there is still no accurate data on whole-of-government resource use and a number of agencies are yet to develop their required resource management plans.
Similarly, it is pleasing to see that the funding for carbon neutrality in ACT schools will be continued to the tune of $3.5 million over the next four years. Once again, though, it is unclear whether this is sufficient to meet the 2017 target due to a lack of data on schools’ energy use and emissions. This is a theme we see consistently—the the absence of data, the clarity of plans. It was a consistent problem in our analysis of weathering the change action plan 1, and it continues to be a shortcoming in that the government is spending money without any clear measurables in terms of baselines, achievable targets and measured reductions. This area needs to be addressed and addressed quickly.
With regard to the administration of the energy efficiency retailers scheme, when we debated this legislation I drew to the Assembly’s attention the fact that it was important that the scheme was administered properly. So I am pleased to see that $800,000 has been allocated over the next four years for these purposes. Between 2013-14 and 2015-16 the scheme will generate over $4.8 million, delivering marked energy bill savings to ACT households, a six per cent reduction in emissions and much needed transformations in the ACT energy efficiency market. Adequate resourcing for the administration of the scheme therefore represents a crucial investment in the scheme’s success.
On a more sour note, we are disappointed by the lack of funding for public housing energy efficiency, with only $10 million over five years being committed, despite the Greens pointing to the need for this to be doubled. Indeed, this is an important component of our agreement with the government. This level of funding by all accounts is inadequate. The most conservative estimates indicate that at least $28 million is needed to bring ACT Housing up to a minimum average energy rating of three stars. The government itself has estimated figures far higher than this could be needed. This funding is crucial to ensuring that Canberra’s most vulnerable households are insulated against rising electricity prices. It is little use to provide them with public housing if they cannot afford to live in it due to exorbitant utility bills.
When it comes to green power purchases, the government undertook to increase its purchase of green power by 10 per cent a year. That has been slipping behind for some time and we are currently at 37.5 per cent when we should be somewhat higher than that. It is concerning to see that the budget makes no mention of the need to increase the purchase target, nor does it allocate any additional funding to meet the shortfall. I think Canberrans might well be wondering why the government is not practising what it is preaching.
The new energy efficiency retailers scheme will overlap with the energy services provided by a range of existing energy efficiency programs. However, it is concerning to see that a range of programs will be cut entirely rather than just adjusted to account for that overlap with the energy efficiency scheme.
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