Wednesday, 21 July 2010

Victoria doubles its target for energy efficiency - Power bills 'could be cut by 25%'

Age
Friday 16/7/2010 Page: 3

THE Brumby government has beaten its federal counterparts to the punch in launching an election climate-change policy, expanding an energy-saving scheme to target up to 500,000 small and medium businesses. The doubled Victorian Energy Efficiency Target is promised to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 5.4 trillion tonnes a year - roughly equivalent to 1% of national emissions. It requires energy retailers to make savings by encouraging the uptake of efficient technology, including new-generation appliances and lighting, heating and water systems.

The announcement to expand the household scheme to cover business comes as the Gillard government prepares an energy-efficiency policy as it attempts to fill the void left by the shelved emissions trading scheme. Federal cabinet is believed to have considered adopting a national scheme similar to the Victorian model. Premier John Brumby called for the Victorian approach to be adopted, saying it could cut power bills by up to 25%. "I hope this is a policy that is emulated, copied across Australia, because this is the way to go in the household and small business sector", he said. "This is where the focus is going to be over the next two to three years - dragging people's power bills down by using electricity more efficiently".

Mr Brumby said the energy efficiency announcement was the first plank of a "landmark" climate change white paper to be released later this month. He confirmed that future announcements would include a statement about the Hazelwood brown coal power station. The Age last week revealed the state government would seek federal help to shut down a quarter of Hazelwood's generators by 2014. It is expected it would cost hundreds of millions of dollars through compensation to Hazelwood's owner, International Power. Mr Brumby said an announcement about the Latrobe Valley plant was imminent. "Hazelwood is obviously the biggest polluter in Victoria... If you were going to reduce emissions and make an abrupt and significant difference to the level of emissions in Victoria you would obviously need to focus on Hazelwood", he said.

Promised before the 2006 election, the climate change white paper has been delayed amid internal confusion while the state government waited on the design of a national carbon trading scheme. A draft of an associated climate change bill circulated at Spring Street in May included only one new measure that could lead to a cut in emissions. Environment Minister Gavin Jennings promised the draft was out of date and would change.

Mr Brumby yesterday said the white paper would also double a rebate on registering hybrid and electric vehicles to $100. The boosted energy efficiency target, up from 2.7 million tonnes a year, won cautious applause from environment groups, business and energy retailers. Opposition energy spokesman Michael O'Brien said enticing people to become energy efficient was a, "no-brainer", but the existing scheme lacked openness and was potentially vulnerable to rorting.

0 comments: