Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Energy costs

David DAVIS (Southern Metropolitan) (19:05): (1190) My matter for the adjournment tonight is for the attention of the Minister for Energy and Resources, and it concerns the surging cost of energy for Victorians. We already know that the St Vincent’s work shows a 28 per cent increase for electricity and a 22 per cent increase for gas in the last year, but also part of the surging cost of energy are various green schemes, and particularly the Victorian energy upgrades program. This pays an amount which is now about $108.50 for every tonne of carbon dioxide mitigated. But it is unfortunately the most expensive scheme of its type in Australia, likely more than 60 per cent more expensive than the next most expensive scheme, representing a 30 per cent increase over just 12 months and a rise from $88 million a decade ago and likely to cost more than $650 million in 2024. So this is a huge impact.

The St Vincent’s analysis of the national energy market actually has a very interesting chart. Chart 9 on page 18 of the St Vincent de Paul and Alviss Consulting paper looking at the cost of energy shows that Victoria is far and away the most expensive for green schemes. $188 a year is what an average Victorian household pays, and they are looking specifically at households using 6000 kilowatt hours per annum. Queensland customers have the lowest, at around $90 per annum. We have got the most expensive cross-subsidy, which is paid for by every single household in Victoria. This is of course part of the energy efficiency scheme that Minister D’Ambrosio, who has been there for 10 years, introduced and pushed forward. This is the one that brought us the immortal scenes of fridges outside businesses where not one environmentally sound fridge, or two, but in some cases four, six or eight special fridges were delivered to the property. This is a scheme in chaos.

I note that the minister has indicated that the scheme will be reviewed, but she has also, concurrent with that, announced that the scheme will be extended. I would like the minister to indicate who will do this review. Who will undertake this review? Will it be an independent review? Will the minister consult with the opposition before the review proceeds? I ask the minister to be transparent about how she arrived at the person doing the review, to make sure that the review is independent and to insist that the costs for families are not increased in the way that they have been.