A program to help poorer home owners improve their property’s energy efficiency will not initially include insulation, despite previous claims it would.
The ACT government’s ”energy efficiency (cost of living) scheme” will come into effect in January, obliging ActewAGL to help householders find ways to use less electricity and gas.
Environment Minister Simon Corbell told the Assembly in May the program would assist home owners ”get better insulation, draught sealing around their windows and doors, double glazing or a more efficient heater so that they save money on their electricity bills”.
However, he signed off on legislation last week that excludes insulation as an eligible improvement.
The Greens’ environment spokesman, Shane Rattenbury, said yesterday he was shocked by the omission, saying insulation was one of the best ways to improve a house.
”It transforms a property and provides an ongoing benefit. It’s usually the first thing you would do to improve the performance of almost any building.”
The federal government set aside about $3.4 billion in 2009 to install insulation in Australian homes, saying it was one of the most cost-effective ways to improve residential energy efficiency.
However, fraud and safety problems plagued the scheme, which was later abandoned.
Mr Rattenbury said it was ”ridiculous that energy-saving power boards and energy-efficient freezers have made the first cut [of the ACT program] when the energy savings they’ll deliver are a tiny fraction of those delivered by insulation”.
Without improving home insulation, he doubted the scheme would meet its target of helping households save, on average, $300 a year.
However, the ACT Environment Directorate’s head of regulation and services, John Meyer, told The Canberra Times the program would be extended to cover insulation, possibly by March next year.
He said insulation was a less urgent priority in the ACT, because about 80 per cent of homes already had it. He also noted concerns about the Commonwealth’s pink batts scheme. ”Obviously, if the [ACT] government was to sponsor insulation as part of this program, we’d need to make sure we have a regulatory regime underpinning it that keeps the ratbags and the fly-by-nighters out.”
Mr Corbell confirmed late yesterday that insulation would be included in the scheme in ”early 2013”, after new training standards were in place for installation workers.
”Labor will include insulation, but will not allow dodgy installers to put workers at risk,” he said.
The ACT program forces ActewAGL to help customers trim their power bill by subsidising activities that improve energy efficiency.
One in four of the households that receive aid must be classed as low-income.
The list of eligible activities includes: sealing doors, windows, exhaust fans and vents; buying thermally efficient windows or curtains, low-flow shower heads or taps, or low-energy lights; replacing old, inefficient heaters, fridges, freezers, boilers or clothes driers; or installing a gas heater.
