Wednesday, 31 July 2024

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (17:31): I rise to make a statement today on the new constitution document for the State Electricity Commission, which was tabled on 20 June pursuant to section 75(a) of the State Owned Enterprises Act 1992. Obviously bringing back the SEC is an initiative of the state government as both a publicly owned company and a body that is going to help facilitate Victoria’s transition to a renewable energy future. But more than that, the SEC is putting power back in the hands of Victorians by delivering a pivotal one-stop shop for information and guidance for members of our community, constituents and residents about how they can reduce their energy bills. And it will support households in their transition from the ever-increasing costs of gas in their homes to much cheaper electricity, particularly renewable electricity.

Research has shown that an average Victorian household which has both gas and electric appliances can reduce its annual energy bill by as much as 32 per cent by switching to all electric, and that could be as much as $1400. In a time of rising energy costs and rising living costs, the work undertaken by the SEC in supporting residents in the electrification of their homes comes as welcome cost-of-living relief. It is just one of the mechanisms that the Labor government is putting in place to help people make the transition to electrification and save money on their energy bills.

The Victorian energy upgrades program is an initiative which over the next three years will help reduce Victoria’s greenhouse gas emissions by around 28 million tonnes. There are real and transformative stories behind the success of the VEU program. Recently, along with the Minister for Energy and Resources Minister D’Ambrosio, I visited Bob and Pat, who live in a little unit in Hampton, in the Southern Metropolitan Region. We were there visiting Bob and Pat, who were, on a very brisk winter’s morning, in the middle of replacing their old gas ducted heating system with the support of the VEU program. They were getting rid of their old, costly-to-run gas heating and –

David Davis: How’s that going at the moment, the VEU program?

Ryan BATCHELOR: Well, for Bob and Pat it is going really well, Mr Davis, because they have replaced their old and costly ducted gas heating with a brand new, well-insulated ducted reverse-cycle air-conditioning unit installed by Coldflow Mechanical, a local company from Clayton South employing local installers, who are seeing record demand for these services. We support people getting opportunities to lower the cost of their energy bills and lower the cost of their heating, and we support local jobs being created to help do that. We know that things like heat pumps, which were installed by Bob and Pat, using reverse-cycle air conditioning technology, are a very efficient way, a much more efficient way, of providing the heated air and are much more efficient and much more cost-effective than their old gas system was. Bob and Pat, having already started the journey towards electrification on their own – they installed induction cooktops – were very eager to take up the opportunity to use the VEU program to install their new heat pump system, receiving about $3000 in rebates to do so and saving potentially around $1000 a year on their energy bill. We went to their house on a cold morning, one of the many cold mornings that we have seen in Melbourne this winter. As I am sure we are all doing, we are reaching for the heating dial as the cold winter mornings surround us.

We know that many Victorians are facing increased costs for heating as a result of the increasing costs of gas in their homes. This program, the Victorian energy upgrades program, and the work that the new SEC is going to do to help Victorians with electrification is providing them with support to reduce their cost of living on an ongoing and permanent basis. I look forward to hearing more stories like that of Bob and Pat, who are saving money, helping the environment and bringing enormous benefits. I am sure the SEC in its new form will do exactly this.