Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Introduction

I'm excited today to reintroduce this bill which is directly aimed at reducing household energy costs by making home batteries cheaper. This has never been more relevant than it is today.

While we debate the safeguard mechanism bill aimed at reducing the emissions of our biggest national polluters, everyday Australians are looking hard for ways to reduce their emissions at home. Households are experiencing significant cost-of-living challenges right now. Groceries, petrol, energy, rent and mortgage costs are all rising. Power bills are set to rise 30 per cent by this winter. I hear about it daily in my electorate of Indi.

This bill will help households purchase a home battery. This means lower power bills, and huge savings for households.

Outline of the b ill

At the federal level, the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme has been key to accelerating the deployment of rooftop solar and driving down the price.

This scheme, introduced by the Howard government, has helped millions of Australians buy solar. But now we need to store that solar—and batteries are the answer.

In short, my bill adds home batteries as an eligible technology to create certificates under the scheme.

This means that, when you install a home battery, you earn certificates which you can then onsell to electricity retailers, who are required to purchase them.

This in turn drives down the installation costs of a home battery.

Right now, a home battery will set you back around $14,500 all in.

My bill could drive that price down by $3,000.

Under my bill, as under the existing scheme, the precise amount you'll save will depend on how big your battery is and how you use it.

The size and quality of a battery, and whether it's connected to the grid or to solar, are all important parts of the scheme which will be covered by regulations, following consultations with industry experts.

But the fundamental point here is this: to unlock massive savings for Australian households, to bring power security to regional households and to accelerate our transition to renewable energy, we need to make home batteries cheaper.

My bill will get it done.

What it would mean

Around a third of Australian homes have rooftop solar, but only 1.4 per cent of households have a battery.

This means millions of houses have untapped potential when it comes to storing solar power.

Only last week, energy retailer Nectr reported a spike in inquiries for their solar and storage bundles. They say this is in direct response to rising energy costs. Households have had enough. They want to take back control of their power bills, and batteries are critical to achieve this. Unfortunately they are still too expensive.

But we know that if households are given some help, the uptake could improve. Local councils like Indigo Shire in my electorate were part of Project EDGE, aimed at looking at how consumers can participate in the energy market. With financial support provided under the project, about 130 households in towns like Beechworth, Wooragee and Yackandandah have taken up batteries. It's clear that with financial help, households are keen to buy batteries.

If we can fix this, the savings for households are huge.

Analysis by engineers and energy entrepreneur Dr Saul Griffith shows that a fully electric household would save around $5,000 a year in petrol costs, in power bills, in heating bills.

And we know that getting batteries into Australian homes is the biggest barrier to capturing those savings.

It's not just improving household savings that would be achieved under this bill. Batteries provide a reliable energy source during times of emergencies like bushfires and storms when our powerlines fail us. In places like Corryong and the Alpine areas.

They are also a critical part of reducing our national emissions. If 500,000 batteries are installed, that's the equivalent of taking 500,000 cars off the road each and every year.

Batteries will reduce our power bills, secure our energy supply and reduce our emissions. It should be a no-brainer for the Government to provide that extra help so households can afford them. This Bill gets this done.

More needs to be done

We must make solar and batteries affordable to all Australians.

Late last year, the government agreed to develop a package for the next budget that will assist low-income households move towards electrification. This was a welcome announcement, but with minimal detail there is ample opportunity for the government to get this right. I want my constituents to use cheap solar, choose electric appliances that are more efficient, and save money in the long term. This package should include no-interest loans for home electrification, and incentives for landlords so that renters can access cheap power too. We are seeing similar programs at home in Victoria and overseas in the USA. It's time for this Government to really get a move on and deliver affordable, clean energy to all Australian households, regardless of income.

Conclusion

The government has set a target of having renewable energy account for more than 80 per cent of the grid by 2030, but analysts warn we won't reach this if we don't back up our power for when the sun is not shining or the wind is not blowing.

We must put batteries within reach of many more households to take pressure off the grid, cut bills, and reduce emissions. This bill gets it done.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to second this motion and to speak in support of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Cheaper Home Batteries) Bill 2023. I would like to commend the member for Indi for introducing this bill and for being a champion across this parliament and the previous government for home batteries, not only for the impact they can have on climate but also for the impact they can have on households in reducing energy costs. This bill will reduce the cost of installing household batteries by making them eligible for technology certificates under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. This may seem like a small change but it is crucial to unlocking the much bigger economic and emissions reductions opportunity of electrifying Australian households and powering them with rooftop solar, subsequently helping households reduce their energy bills.

While fossil fuel prices remain high following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Australians' rooftop solar remains the cheapest home energy in the world, able to deliver electricity prices as low as 3c per kilowatt. The low cost of solar means that, if we can power our lives with Australian sunshine and switch out expensive gas appliances for more efficient electrical alternatives, the average household could permanently reduce their power bills by over $3,000 per year. At the same time as saving money, families would also be going zero emissions for their energy use. When we add up across Australia's 10 million households, Rewiring Australia estimates that we could cut over 40 per cent of our emissions in the domestic economy and save more than $300 billion between now and 2035. That's cost-of-living relief, and it's great climate policy.

Household batteries are crucial to seizing the electrification opportunity. By enabling families to store cheap energy and use it when the sun isn't shining, it helps families manage rising energy costs. It increases security of our energy supply, and it takes pressure off the rest of the electricity grid. So making batteries cheaper is important for people across Australia. It's important for people in rural Victoria, where energy storage can also be life-saving if you're cut off the grid by a bushfire. It's a important for renters in Wentworth, where combining a battery with a shared solar solution can reduce reliance on expensive coal and gas. And it's important to remote Aboriginal communities, where a household battery can mean people have access to cheap solar 24/7.

Cheaper home batteries are a climate and cost-of-living imperative for all Australia, but without a helping hand from government we won't achieve the pace of uptake we need. Although home batteries are coming down in price all the time, the upfront costs of between $7,000 and $15,000 remain a significant barrier to many. This is why only 35,000 households installed a battery in 2021, but it's less than a tenth of the people who were installing solar in the same year. And it's a far cry from the hundreds of thousands we need to install each year if we're going to electrify Australia's 10 million households over the next decade.

Australia is the household solar capital of the world. This bill has the opportunity to catalyse Australia being the household battery capital of the world, along with the impact that could have on our broader emissions and also household bills. But government support is crucial, as it was for catalysing the uptake of solar. When it's provided, we get the results—more batteries, lower power prices, low emissions—that we want to see. If the government is serious about cost-of-living relief and if it's serious about climate action, this is the legislation it should support.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for the debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made in order of the day for the next sitting.