A new report from Deloitte Access Economics reveals Tasmania’s low income homes could significantly reduce their average annual energy bills with an accelerated rollout of thermal efficiency upgrades and electrification and rooftop solar.
TasCOSS CEO, Ms Adrienne Picone, said the ACOSS-commissioned Deloitte report highlighted the benefits of installing solar on the 1,774 social housing properties in the electorate of Franklin, which would deliver annual household energy bill savings of roughly $1,367 a year.*
“An accelerated home energy upgrade program would deliver significant benefits for Tasmania resulting in a drastic reduction in energy poverty for those struggling to heat or cool their homes to a healthy temperature, as well as a significant boost to the state’s economy with the generation of up to $3.3 billion in GSP and over 3,000 Tasmanian jobs across the seven year rollout period of the upgrades,” Ms Picone said.
“Low income Tasmanians are more likely to live in poorly-insulated and inefficient housing stock and spend more than three-times as much of their income on electricity than those on the highest incomes.
“Increased investment in household energy efficiency initiatives will improve energy affordability for Tasmanian households on low incomes by lowering their consumption and energy costs.
“The most recent energy retailer data shows the number of Tasmanian customers in energy debt is up 20% in the past year and has more than doubled since the COVID-19 lockdowns.”
Ms Picone said the Deloitte analysis looked at ‘modest’ thermal efficiency upgrades and electrification, plus rooftop solar, for 1.2 million homes across Australia over seven years.
“The report concludes that an accelerated home energy upgrade program could drastically reduce energy poverty for people struggling to heat and cool their housing, and that large scale investment would deliver ongoing and significant energy bill savings, create thousands of jobs and supercharge the energy transition,” she said.
* View the interactive electorate map to track potential energy bill savings and emissions reduction data.
TasCOSS, alongside ACOSS and all the state and territory COSS network, have used the Deloitte report to call on federal, state and territory governments to substantially and urgently increase investment in home energy upgrades for low income housing.
The COSS network has written to Energy Ministers ahead of the Ministers’ meeting today calling for the Commonwealth Government to establish a national fund in the MYEFO budget to accelerate upgrades. It would start with $2 billion in the first year, scaling up each year with contributions from other sources.