Aussies cooling on renewables: survey
Chris Bowen is about to spruik Australia’s renewable energy target to the world, but a new consumer survey shows we want the government to act on power prices first.
Environment
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Crippling electricity bills are prompting many households to call for a slowdown in Australia’s transition to renewable energy, with nearly two in three consumers believing the shift will slug them with even higher prices.
A new survey of 2124 households by Energy Consumers Australia shows 62 per cent of respondents believe the transition to renewables will increase their power bills as energy companies fund upgrades to wires and new storage facilities.
And more than one in three respondents (36 per cent) believe there is either no need for Australia to move to 100 per cent renewables, or a full transition will be impossible to achieve.
Conducted twice a year, the latest Energy Consumer Sentiment Survey showed increasing distrust in the energy market, with confidence at the lowest level since 2018.
Trust levels in the electricity sector were at 43 per cent – roughly equivalent to banks (42 per cent), but lower than telcos (46 per cent) and water utilities (60 per cent).
Energy Consumers Australia CEO Brendan French said the survey showed “winter rebates and other supports were a relief for some,” but “rising energy bills and rising cost of living mean a broader range of people are experiencing financial stress and we need to help them too”.
“If we don’t provide that help, the energy divide will increase and things will continue to get worse for an increasing number of households. This should be a wake-up call for the entire industry,” Mr French said.
The survey results lob as Climate Change Energy Minister Chris Bowen jets in to Dubai for the COP 28 climate conference, where he will spruik Australia’s target of reaching 82 per cent renewables (up from 40 per cent in the National Electricity Market currently) by the end of the decade.
The Opposition has continued to hammer the issue of power prices, saying Labor promised to bring them down 97 times during the lead-up to the last federal election.
“The cost of living is really biting, and the problem is the Labor Party went to the election promising they’d do something about it and obviously they haven’t, and power prices are the cornerstone of that,” Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce told Sunrise on Wednesday.
The June 30 report on electricity prices from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission showed bills were up 2.7 per cent nationally, although in some states they were up much higher – by 9.1 per cent in South Australia and 6.4 per cent in New South Wales.
The government is expected to release the ACCC’s latest price update this month.
While many struggle with rising power bills, new data from the Clean Energy Regulator (CER) showed Australians installed a record amount of rooftop solar in the September quarter.
CER Chair David Parker said Australia was on track to install more than 3 gigawatts of rooftop solar this year – equivalent to powering about 700,000 homes.
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