The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council has agreed to common objectives in improving Australia’s energy productivity:
- to reduce costs for household and business energy users
- maintain our competitiveness
- grow Australia’s economy
- reduce carbon emissions, and
- improve our sustainability.
Noting that energy productivity measures can also drive a range of wider economic benefits, such as labour and capital productivity improvements to businesses and jobs in new services, the Council agreed in December 2014 to develop a new collaborative policy framework for energy productivity to ensure energy consumers can effectively manage and reduce their energy bills and are maximising the value of their energy to support a growing, competitive and sustainable economy.
The Commonwealth Government also announced in its April 2015 Energy White Paper a commitment to lead the development of a National Energy Productivity Plan (the NEPP).
In addition to collaborative measures, the NEPP may be broader, recognising opportunities in wider sectors, such as vehicles, and the roles played by the Commonwealth, all levels of government, industry and wider stakeholders.
Acknowledging the likely complementary nature of these two commitments and the benefit of a comprehensive national approach, the Council has agreed to work together with the Commonwealth to support the development of the NEPP as a coordinated national plan.
The Energy Efficiency Council’s CEO, Luke Menzel, welcomed this step as “a sensible step forward” and noting that the hard work of driving a step change in energy productivity is still ahead of us. ‘
Read the full COAG Energy Council Statement here.
Read the Energy Efficiency Council media release here.