Energy efficiency key to easing cost-of-living pressure: ACOSS

Australia’s peak community services and welfare body has called for urgent government action to make energy more affordable for low income households.

In a report released today, the Australian Council of Social Service has identified a series of policy measures that would empower low-income households to become active participants in controlling their energy use and reducing energy costs.

In releasing the report, Energy Efficiency and People on Low Incomes, ACOSS adds its voice to other recent calls for a federal energy efficiency policy agenda, advocating for direct government investment in building and fixture upgrades, as well as incentives to stimulate private landlord investment in energy efficiency measures.

“Energy efficiency should be a key policy response to address the impacts of rising energy prices, yet we’ve heard little mention of it in the current political debates about cost of living pressures and energy affordability,” said ACOSS Senior Policy Officer, Andrea Pape.

“We need to build the safety and resilience of our housing stock, and we need to start with the most vulnerable households first.  This is a sensible approach in the current fiscal environment and we urge all sides of politics to commit to action on this important front.”

ACOSS’s research found that energy consumption in low income homes was more directly linked to the number of people in the home, thus raising cost and hardship implications for families on the lowest incomes. Significant hardship was also experienced by those needing to charge wheelchairs or run medical equipment at home, and by those with a medical need to control body temperature.

Low income households, including private rental and social housing dwellings, were also found to be more likely than owner-occupied households to own old and inefficient refrigerators, use cheap and inefficient heaters and other appliances, and were twice as likely to be uninsulated.

Based on this research, ACOSS says that investment in energy efficiency for these households would not only improve cost-of-living affordability, but climate resilience and health outcomes for current and future building occupants.

It also notes that energy efficiency could improve the effectiveness of current low-income energy concessions frameworks by contributing to system-wide cost reductions, reductions in peak demand, delaying the need for new network and generation infrastructure, and driving down wholesale electricity prices.

“Government and industry programs have to date largely targeted people on low incomes with behaviour change and minor retrofits to help reduce electricity costs. While these programs are beneficial, they need to be complemented by measures that deliver over the long term – particularly investments in building and fixture upgrades,” said Pape.

The five energy efficiency policy measures ACOSS has proposed include: landlord tax incentives for energy efficiency measures in rental properties; energy efficiency standards for rental properties, and mandatory disclosure of energy and water efficiency of all properties at point of sale; additional funding for targeted retrofits for the worst performing and highest risk social housing stock; financial support (microfinance) to help with up-front costs of energy efficiency upgrades; and face to face assistance for targeted advice and services.

“Targeted retrofits of the worst performing social housing where health, climate and hardship risks are greatest should be a high priority,” Pape said. “We know that those most at risk from heatwaves are low income people, the elderly and people living with disabilities or health issues.”