Mr BAYLEY – Minister, you spoke earlier about the Energy Saver Loan Scheme and its ability to assist households with solar and storage, energy efficiency, appliances, building upgrades and the like, and last year the economic regulator reported there was a 31 per cent increase in the amount of solar energy being produced on island here, and largely on home.
A positive thing, and you’ve talked about the scheme in a positive sense, and you’ve talked about follow‑ons, because of course that scheme is now closed, it closed on 1 September, and installations need to be complete in two weeks’ time to be eligible for follow‑ons. What are the follow‑ons that you intend to initiate in this space, because it has been useful, it has been successful, and it is something that we need to improve here in the state, the energy independence of households?
Mr DUIGAN – One of the great legacies of the Energy Saver Loan Scheme will be the fact that the local solar industry is much larger, much more advanced, much more capable than it was three-and-a-half years ago when the scheme commenced. At that stage we had problems getting enough installers to do the jobs; now the industry has grown to such a point where it’s got a bit more of that self‑sustaining momentum. When that scheme finished, I was concerned that we would hear a great deal of noise from industries saying, the workload has dried up, but that’s not been the case. The workload is actually continuing. We are still continuing to see very substantial solar installations happening across the state. I think that’s been a really good legacy piece.
The more difficult part to address, in my view, is around those homes and those customers who perhaps aren’t contemplating a $10,000 solar installation but would like their house to perform better, or to be less cold, or don’t have insulation in their walls, or incentivising a landlord to put energy efficient appliances or solar on a rental property, those sorts of things; again, we’ve asked for a review to be done of the Energy Saver Loan Scheme and for the learnings out of that, and potential ways forward. We’re looking at that. We’re not ready to go yet.
Mr BAYLEY – When’s the review going to be finished?
Mr DUIGAN – When’s the review going to be finished, Vanessa?
Ms PINTO – I’m hoping that an answer to when the review will be finished will come to me shortly. What I can say in time, actually probably by early next year, such that the government may consider if it would like to take any further action in regards that, and in terms of the scope of that review, there are a number of programs that have been undertaken over time. Prior to the Energy Saver loan scheme, there was the prior Tasmanian Energy Efficiency Loan Scheme, if we all recall that. We are going to have a look at how those schemes have been undertaken, the areas for improvement. We’ll also look at what other jurisdictions are doing to see where there are opportunities there, to see how we can learn from that, to look at what possibilities could be provided.
Mr BAYLEY – Minister, the energy regulator published its embedded network review final decision in August this year and that concluded that all energy customers should have a comparable level of consumer protections, regardless of their energy supplier, and requiring jurisdictional governments to act to address consumer gaps. Obviously, this was the national Australian Energy Regulator. Can you outline what action the Tasmanian government has taken to address the AER’s findings, in particular, to ensure that customers in embedded networks here can access the electricity concessions.
Mr DUIGAN – Good question, embedded networks is one of those challenging areas to unpick given the nature of them. It’s work that ReCFIT has been doing, again, I would point to the acting CEO to provide detail on where we’re up to, but noting that you know, Tasmania is supportive of those.
Mr BAYLEY – Intention to implement them all?
Mr DUIGAN – Absolutely.
Ms PINTO – Embedded networks, as you would be aware, are privately‑managed systems that supply to all premises within a site, like a caravan park or retirement village is a really good example of that. Typically, what will happen is the operator of that site will purchase in bulk and then onsell it. In Tasmania, many of those customers would qualify for the electricity concession if they were billed directly, however, they’re not recognised as such. So far, some of the methods that have been applied are through the Energy Bill Relief Fund and the Renewable Energy Dividend. There is also in the 2025-26 Budget a new electricity rebate for eligible low‑income embedded network customers, and the implementation arrangements are currently being developed by the Department of Treasury and Finance, working in collaboration with Service Tasmania.
Mr BAYLEY – Do you expect them to start rolling out immediately?
CHAIR – Sorry, Vica. You’ve had two. Prof Razay.
