Page 3318 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 21 August 2018
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strong links to the curriculum. Schools accredited under the program send 25 per cent less waste to landfill and use 20 per cent less electricity.
Business will continue to be supported with energy, waste and water programs. There are now over 1,850 businesses participating in the Actsmart business programs. Businesses signed up to the Actsmart program achieve, on average, annual energy bill savings of $1,900 per business and see a reduction in waste into landfill and greenhouse gas emissions. We are seeing a lot of bluster this week on the hill just across the road but it is the ACT government that is actually providing real energy savings for households and for businesses in this city.
A total of 545 low income households will receive free household energy efficiency assessments, with a further 450 attending energy efficiency workshops. Additionally, 1,500 residents will be supported with Actsmart providing free tailored advice and self-help workshops on reducing their energy and water use during the year. This initiative will support the continuation of the community gardens grants program and the curtain retrofit volunteer program to install curtains in the homes of some of our most vulnerable citizens.
The energy efficiency improvement scheme will continue to deliver big savings this year, especially to alleviate energy poverty for low income priority households. Since the scheme started in 2013 it has helped more than 71,000 households and businesses to reduce emissions and energy bills. Each participating household is saving up to $5.65 per week, and businesses are saving $57 a week on their energy bills through the big business light switch program.
Rebates of around $3,000 are now available from ActewAGL to replace a household’s inefficient gas heater with a more efficient system, such as an electric reverse-cycle air conditioner. With upward pressure on energy prices, it is now more important than ever to help people reduce their energy costs through energy efficiency.
With a 20 per cent priority household target set for 2018, the scheme will continue to significantly reduce energy costs for some of the ACT’s most vulnerable households and help them adapt to a changing climate. The ongoing commitment to the EIS follows an independent review of the scheme published in July 2018 which showed that the scheme delivered benefits to the community four times the cost of the scheme.
I want to particularly mention a new element to the EIS which Minister Berry and I have worked on. Over the next three years the ACT government will build on a successful pilot program in public housing to invest a further $7 million to improve the energy efficiency of public housing heaters and hot-water systems through the scheme. The energy efficiency upgrade will extend to 2,200 public housing dwellings and will help reduce climate emissions as well as heating and cooling bills for some of Canberra’s most vulnerable residents.
For the average household that gets involved in this program and benefits from it, we expect a saving of around $500 on their annual energy bills. That is not some mythical NEG $500. Go back to Tony Abbot’s efforts a few years ago when he promised that removing the carbon tax would save households $550 a year. This is $500 of real
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