Other schemes
Related Websites
The Victorian and South Australian governments have established energy efficiency schemes similar to the ESS. The NSW Government is committed to working closely with these governments to improve consistency between the three schemes for stakeholders and has established an intergovernmental working group to achieve this.
Victorian Energy Efficiency Target (VEET)
VEET commenced on 1 January 2009. VEET aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from households by 10% by 2010 and Victoria’s overall emissions by 60% by 2050. This will be achieved by legislative requirements placed on energy retailers in Victoria. VEET is designed primarily to encourage the uptake of energy efficient technology, initially in the residential sector. A three-year reduction target for 2009-2011 is set at 2.7 million tonnes of CO2-e per year. This is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by a total of 8.1 million tonnes, which is equivalent to making about 675,000 households carbon neutral for a year.
Residential Energy Efficiency Scheme (REES)
REES commenced on 1 January 2009. REES aims at reducing South Australian household energy consumption and costs through establishing obligations to be met by electricity and gas retailers. Like the VEET scheme, REES is aimed at the residential sector.
Energy providers who supply more than 5,000 residential customers in South Australia are obliged to meet individually set energy reduction targets. The first three years of targets for 2009–2011 have been set and the 2009 targets are expected to save 155,000 tonnes of greenhouse gases. The energy providers during 2009 must deliver 3,000 energy audits to low income homes and achieve one third of their set energy target through helping low income households. This can be achieved by installing more efficient lighting and showerheads, upgrading to more efficient appliances and a number of other measures.
NSW Government Action
The NSW Government holds a deep commitment to address Climate Change and the make a positive impact in people’s lives through the adoption of energy saving measures and technologies. In order to manage this commitment, the Government established the Department of Environment and Climate Change (DECC).
At the heart of this response is the Government’s commitment through the Environment for Living priority area of the State Plan to a return to year 2000 greenhouse gas emission levels by 2025 and a 60 per cent cut in greenhouse emissions by 2050.
These commitments are being realised through implementation of the Greenhouse Plan and the NSW Climate Change Action Plan, which focuses on a wide range on issues including:
- working with the building industry to consider whether current design standards for homes in storm and flood prone areas are strong enough to withstand harsher weather events in the future,
- working with local councils and planners to respond to the impacts of long term sea level rise,
- preparing for more intense and frequent bushfires,
- planning to support the elderly and vulnerable to cope with the expected increase in heatwaves,
- preparing the economy for the challenges and opportunities that will come in a carbon-constrained economy,
- looking after thenatural environment as the climate changes, especially vulnerable areas like the alpine region, and
- ensuring that agricultural communities have the technology and science needed to adapt to changing weather patterns.
A key part of the NSW response to the Owen Inquiry into Electricity Supply in 2007, has been the announcement of a $150-million Energy Efficiency Strategy focused on:
- reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy consumption in NSW,
- reducing the impact of rising energy prices on businesses and the community by lowering energy consumption, and
- delaying the need to construct additional energy generation and distribution infrastructure in NSW, achieving a cost-saving for the state economy.
The ESS is a key part of the Energy Efficiency Strategy.
The NSW Government also strongly supports the establishment of a national energy efficiency scheme to provide a comprehensive market-based framework to overcome the obstacles to energy efficiency. To date, the Commonwealth Government has not adopted this proposal.
The NSW Government is committed to working closely with the governments of Victoria and South Australia to improve consistency for stakeholders among the ESS and the VEET and REES schemes and has established an intergovernmental working group to achieve this.
