Productivity Commission Misses the Point
April 21, 2005
Green groups call upon the Ministerial Council on Energy to ignore the draft report on energy efficiency released by the Productivity Commission today, claiming that it misses the point and is out of touch.
The draft report calls into question the benefits of energy efficiency and the role for Government in energy efficiency per se. This runs contrary to the Review of Competition Reforms, also undertaken by the Productivity Commission, which stated that a coherent greenhouse abatement policy is an immediate and high priority.
The MCE is urged to move forward with the initiatives outlined in the National Framework on Energy Efficiency which highlights that energy consumption in the manufacturing, commercial and residential sectors could be reduced by 20 to 30% with existing technologies and a payback period of four years, said Mark Wakeham Clean Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace. This means jobs for 2,600 people and $975 million in GDP.
The Productivity Commission report critiques a range of Government programs and concludes that Government should concentrate on information provision. However, work by Governments to date on energy programs has resulted in real benefits for individuals and society.
The criticism of the Mandatory Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) program is completely unfounded. Its ironic that fridges are noted as an appliance where minimum energy performance standards should not apply. The 25 years of Government intervention on fridges has led to fridge energy consumption being cut by 70%, said Esther Abram, CEO of the Moreland Energy Foundation in Melbourne.
The Productivity Commission has failed electricity consumers and the Australian economy by adopting economic principles from the dark ages, said Jane Castle, Resource Conservation Campaigner from the Total Environment Centre in NSW. By ignoring the cost of greenhouse emissions and giving no dollar value to the environment, the huge gains from energy efficiency have been overlooked.
The draft report fails to describe how negative energy use trends can be impacted upon, other than through increasing energy prices. Increasing the price paid for electricity use at peak times will have little impact on people turning the air conditioner on if they dont receive the price signal until they get their bill three months later.
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In Victoria, the State Government has effected real change in the way people use water, through a mixed policy bag including financial incentives for uptake of water efficiency, tariff reform and mandatory measures Esther Abram said. This is the blueprint which should extended to energy.
NSW is leading the way with its Energy Savings Fund, said Jane Castle. All Australians should have the opportunity to reduce energy bills and greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency.
For further information call:
Esther Abram 0409 962 992
Jane Castle 0432 287 554
Mark Wakeham 0409 542 753
More information
Please contact : Jim Downey
