Page 1454 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 24 March 2010
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community members. These concessions provide support in areas such as energy, water and sewerage, and largely correspond with concessions in other states and territories.
The ACT concessions program aims to ensure that each target group is supported to access an essential service or item, some of which assists them to participate in the community. The general eligibility criteria for these concessions are for low income individuals and households who are entitled to commonwealth income support. For example, the energy concession provides a maximum of $194.87 per annum to approximately 22,000 eligible households in the ACT.
The ACT government concessions portal provides a front door to concessions and is designed to make it easier for low income households to access information on concessions. The ACT government concessions are one way to promote access to essential services for low income households.
I would like to highlight to the Assembly that concessions work alongside a range of ACT government policies and programs. The ACT government has committed $20 million over 10 years for energy efficiency measures in public housing. As part of this program, there have been energy efficiency improvements to over 1,600 properties, including wall and ceiling insulation, draught seals and high-efficiency hot-water systems for new and existing dwellings. A photovoltaic electricity generation system has been installed into apartment complexes. The hot-water systems, where suitable, are five-star gas, electric heat pump or electric boosted solar, and are being installed where the existing system has failed.
As a result of the report Energy efficiency strategy for ACT public housing (2007), Housing ACT developed an action plan to improve public housing properties. As of last month, over 700 public housing properties have had thermal improvements installed. Housing ACT expects to improve all its properties by 2017. I am pleased to advise that during the 2010-11 year Housing ACT will invite a select number of tenants to allow access to their energy records. The information will be used to assess the effectiveness of the energy improvements that have been installed.
The ACT government provides funding for water and energy savings in the territory program, WEST. This program is a partnership between the government, business and community sectors. And WEST helps low income households with high energy and water consumptions. It provides an energy audit, efficiency education and minor retrofitting. The program raises householder awareness of what causes high energy and water costs and helps them reduce their consumption costs so that they are less likely to incur large utility debts.
The WEST program has been very successful. A quantitative data analysis of WEST found that 83 per cent of program participants reduced energy consumption in the year after the home energy audit date, compared to the year before. A comparison of energy bills of participants found a general reduction of consumption of approximately 20 per cent. Only a few households with good outcomes showed a relapse in either 2007 or 2008.
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