The National Energy Performance Strategy provides an opportunity for leadership across all levels of government, working together, to help the 10 million households and 2.6 million small businesses in Australia manage the challenges and opportunities arising from the transition to a renewable energy system.
People’s immediate challenge is managing high energy costs, at a time when cost of living increases are placing pressure on Australians. That burden of higher prices is not experienced equally; for households below median household income, electricity costs account for between 3% and 12% of their income, compared with households above median income who pay at most 2-3%. The energy transformation cannot succeed if the divide between the “haves” and “have nots” becomes entrenched. Small businesses with high energy costs are also faced with difficult choices – to pass on higher energy costs to their customers, cut staff or sacrifice their own income.
People need independent trusted information and advice, and fit for purpose protections that build consumer agency. Policies and programs should be tailored to the different needs of different consumers. We need to connect now with households and small businesses to tell them how they can reduce their bills.
Energy Consumers Australia sees a need for new institutional architecture that integrates energy performance into energy system governance, and supports coordination and collaboration across all levels of government. We support targets for action that deliver clear benefits to consumers, and are purposeful, measurable and ambitious.
The energy transformation will require significant levels of investment to make every home and every small business resilient and adaptive, the scale of which means governments will need to support those without the means or the opportunity to fund the upfront capital costs.
The National Energy Transformation Partnership and the National Energy Performance Strategy together set the foundational architecture for equal weight being given to both the supply side and the demand side in the energy transformation.
Read our full submission here