Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move amendments (5) and (6) together:

(5)    Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 23), after item 5, insert:

5A  After Part 6

Insert:

Part 6A—Implementation of identified energy efficiency measures

20B  Requirement to implement identified energy efficiency measures

        (1)    A registered corporation required to lodge an assessment plan in accordance with Part 5 must identify as part of the plan a program of energy saving capital improvements (the energy audit) which have a payback period specified in subsection (5).

        (2)    A portion of the saving identified in the energy audit required by subsection (1) must be made within three years from the commencement of the Energy Efficiency Opportunities Amendment Act 2007.

        (3)    The regulations must include provision for a registered corporation to delay the implementation of an energy audit prepared under subsection (1) if the registered corporation provides satisfactory evidence of an intention to implement the energy audit.

        (4)    A registered corporation must provide an annual summary of the implementation of the energy audit of the previous year and a summary of the proposed implementation of the energy audit for the following year to be included in the register maintained by the Secretary in accordance with section 12.

        (5)    The regulations must set a sliding scale to progressively lower the duration of the energy payback period from not more than two years in the financial years 2006-07 and 2007-08 to not more than four years by the financial years 2010-11 and 2011-12.

(6)    Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 23), after item 5, insert:

5B  After section 22A

Insert:

22AA  Public reporting of identified energy efficiency opportunities

                 If an energy efficiency opportunity identified during an energy efficiency opportunity assessment is assessed by the corporation as having a payback period of less than 10 years, the company must:

             (a)    report the details of the opportunity and the payback period in a report of the type required by section 21; and

             (b)    include the details of the opportunity and the payback period in its next annual report.

One amendment relates to the implementation and reporting of energy efficiency opportunities. It is clear from the divisions earlier that the government has no intention of requiring companies to implement the identified savings from their energy efficiency audits, which is what this amendment would give effect to.

The other component will require registered corporations to include an annual summary of the implementation of the energy audit of the previous year and a summary of the proposed implementation of the energy audit for the following year in the register maintained by the secretary in accordance with section 12. The reason for this is, as Senator Colbeck said earlier, that the government has no way of knowing what companies have done and what they intend to do in any 12-month period and we will come to the end of five years of the review before we actually know the situation. You will not be able to see how this legislation has performed after a couple of years.

This amendment includes a mechanism that requires companies not only to implement their audits but also to provide an annual summary of the implementation of the audit for the previous year and a summary of the proposed implementation of the audits for the following year and to include them in the register maintained by the secretary. This amendment sets a sliding scale to progressively lower the duration of the energy payback period to not more than two years in the financial year 2006-07. You cannot set a lower bar than getting companies a payback within not more than two years, taking that out in 2007-08 to not more than four years by 2010-11 and 2011-12.

In respect of a payback period, this is saying that you must implement the findings of your audit provided in the first instance you get a payback period that recoups the cost of the initial capital outlay as a result of the energy savings project in that two years, gradually increasing the degree of difficulty for companies but not to more than four years. It is not very difficult for companies to see that they actually get a financial benefit within that payback period. It is eminently sensible that that occurs. It is quite apparent from the debate earlier that the government will not support it, but I am interested to know why the government would not want to support such a sensible amendment.