A report produced by the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), the Brotherhood of St Laurence and The Climate Institute titled Empowering disadvantaged households to access affordable, clean energy calls on the Australian Government to assist people on low-incomes to access affordable, reliable and clean energy. The report identifies the need to improve household efficiency and productivity along with other policies such as stronger consumer protection and cheaper clean energy to resolve the increasing issue of energy poverty.
The report focuses on achieving five outcomes:
- Electricity priced efficiently, including integrated climate policy
- Informed and enabled consumers
- Energy consumed efficiently and productively
- Robust consumer protections
- All households have a capacity to pay their energy bills
The ability to pay electricity bills is linked firstly to income and then to housing. Energy Efficiency was found to be critical providing the multiple benefits of reducing costs, reducing emissions, improving health and wellbeing and reducing the need for concessions. The report acknowledges a shift from centralised base load/peaking grid to a more decentralised and diversified grid. While household solar capacity is expected to rise and provide cost savings to householders an increasing divide is predicted between householders who can afford solar panels and those that can’t.
Investments in access to technology, better consumer frameworks and consumer education are identified as critical to addressing the issue but are also recognised to be limited for reasons of cost, low literacy levels, housing situations and complex lives. The report calls for governments, regulators and decision makers to prioritise factors outside of the national energy market in an effort to provide an easing of energy stress.
More information here.