Page 1137 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 20 March 2013
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MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: Mr Hanson, if the interjections were not coming in the first place, Mr Corbell would not have attempted to do that. Mr Corbell will not address his comments across the chamber. He will address them to me and he will answer the question.
MR CORBELL: Thank you, Madam Acting Speaker. While the ACT continues to enjoy some of the lowest electricity prices in the country, we are also, on a per capita basis, big energy users. For these reasons, we need to address issues of energy efficiency in Canberra households.
Many studies have shown that, despite ongoing improvements in energy efficiency, there is great potential for additional energy savings across all sectors of the economy. Studies have also shown that energy efficiency is the most effective way to abate greenhouse gas emissions. For this reason, the government passed the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Improvement Act last year, which establishes the legal framework for energy savings across the ACT delivered by electricity retailers. I am pleased to say that here in the ACT we have seen the commencement of this scheme.
ActewAGL have launched a free energy efficiency program to assist ACT residents with energy saving products. They have established an energy efficiency team of authorised installers who are making free energy saving calls to households in the ACT to help them install free products that will help them save energy. These products include standby power controllers, energy efficient light bulbs and draught stoppers.
Under the EEIS, we anticipate around 70,000 Canberra households will access significant energy savings, which is calculated to be, on average, around $390 per household over the three-year lifetime of this very important scheme.
MADAM ACTING SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Gentleman.
MR GENTLEMAN: Minister, how will Canberrans benefit from this scheme?
MR CORBELL: I thank Mr Gentleman for the question. Again, and as I just highlighted, clearly the savings are first and foremost in terms of household electricity bills. This is a piece of legislation introduced by the Labor government that saves households money. I would have thought that all members in this place would be supportive of such legislation. Of course, we know those opposite opposed this law. They opposed a law that saves Canberrans money on their electricity bills, putting a lie to their claim that they are concerned about the cost of living for Canberra households.
Of course, we also know that we are seeing significant uptake already from households in response to this new legislative scheme. ActewAGL reports it has undertaken activities already in over 900 Canberra households, of which 29 per cent were the priority households—that is, the low income households, the households least likely to be able to afford measures to reduce their electricity bills. It estimates that installers have replaced approximately 7,000 light bulbs, installed 1,850 stand-by power controllers and 850 door seals.
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