A spokeswoman for the Allan government said the co-payments would not change the price consumers paid for products in the improvement program in “almost all cases”.
“We are consulting on co-payments for the [the program]to understand how they could prevent Victorians from ending up with products they don't need,” the spokeswoman said.
Gavin Dufty of the St Vincent de Paul Society.
St Vincent de Paul's general manager of policy and research, Gavin Dufty, said the co-payments were a positive move, but said the plan needed to be fair to low-income families who couldn't afford the upgrades but who assumed the costs of the plan. your bills.
“We need to make sure that, ultimately, disadvantaged low-income households who never get to participate [the program] don't just underwrite every household they can,” he said.
The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action anticipates that the ban on telemarketing will already be reflected in the high cost of energy efficiency certificates. The department has previously said the reason for the current high price was that the market had yet to adjust to the program moving away from lighting upgrades to larger and more complex installations.
Retailers are also worried about continued pressure on the plan, which has set a target of 7.1 million credits by 2024, but as of April 8 had already generated 1.19 million. Each certificate is equivalent to one tonne of avoided greenhouse gases and has increased in value from $70 in May 2023 to its current mark of $94.
The Victorian Energy Upgrades program is part of the state government's signature green energy plan.Credit: Eamon Gallagher
There is currently a surplus of about 4 million energy efficiency certificates from previous years that will help the state meet its goals by 2024. A November analysis by data firm Green Energy Markets said the program was down 45% from the previous year and, on current trends, estimated Victoria's surplus of certificates would be depleted by mid-2025.
In a submission to the government, energy giant AGL said it was concerned that “very limited progress appears to have been made to alleviate industry concerns about the wider impacts on the VEU programme”.
The company said targets for the certificates were rising at the same time as there were ongoing challenges to create new credits across the scheme.
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“This has resulted in upward price pressure on the cost of VEECs (certificates), which will ultimately be passed on to consumers and erode some of the benefits of the VEU program.”
In a statement, an AGL spokeswoman said there were “opportunities to improve the VEU program” and the company wanted to work with the department and the Essential Services Commission to improve the delivery of emissions and benefit targets for customers.
Opposition energy spokesman David Davis said the $200 minimum payment would reduce the use of energy upgrades.
