Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Grogan for her question. I am very pleased to inform the senator that over the weekend the Albanese government announced $160 million to support Westpac's sustainable upgrades home loan through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. This builds on the $60 million we announced with Plenti in June. It is all part of the $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund and it is complemented by the $300 million commitment, the Social Housing Energy Performance Initiative, which delivers upgrades for social housing.

The investment will mean that eligible customers with older homes or with appliances that don't meet modern energy standards will now be able to access lower interest loans to upgrade them. A house's design, materials and appliances all determine how well it uses energy. That's why we want to help Australians embrace upgrades and technology that can help with comfort, cost and of course also the climate.

We know from analysis undertaken by Climateworks Centre that home energy upgrades like double-glazing windows and installing solar panels could save, on average, between 40 and 50 per cent of typical domestic energy bills. These are all steps that households can embrace if we can provide just a little bit of support, because we know that if we can connect households with finance and good information about technology, these are changes that Australian households want to make. This announcement continues the rollout of finance from our $1 billion Household Energy Upgrades Fund, designed to help homes become more energy efficient and to ease the cost of living.