7 April 2005

The Minister for Energy and Utilities, Hon Frank Sartor, put forward strong incentives for some of our biggest energy and water users to become more efficient. A new Bill titled The Energy Administration Amendment (Water and Energy Savings) Bill 2005, was introduced to State Parliament this week. The Bill calls for the creation of a Water Savings Fund and an Energy Savings Fund that will be available to support savings measures. A link to the full transcript is available via the DEUS homepage and the NSW Parliament Web site

On introducing the Bill, Minister Sartor iterated that "Sydney's growing population is placing increased pressure on our water and power supplies". He went on to say that "The funds provide incentives, particularly for businesses, to introduce measures to make sure they use water and energy more wisely."

Saving Energy

If passed, the Bill would require some large businesses to undertake energy savings plans, accompanied by funding to assist with implementing real measures.

The funds available will be up to $40 million per year for 5 years. The fund will be paid for by contributions by electricity distributors, and used to support energy savings initiatives by large private sector users, government and the residential sector. It will form a contestable pool of funds for applicants, available after July 2005.

There are multiple benefits to saving energy. It cuts costs for many users, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, conserves finite resources, and also lowers demand for electricity at times of peak use. The cumulative total of energy saved from these measures will save around 800,000 tonnes of harmful greenhouse gas each year by 2010/11. This is the equivalent environmental benefit of removing 170,000 cars from the State's roads. The measures are also expected to deliver gross savings on energy bills of $370 million.

Saving Water

The Bill also allows for funding to be made available to encourage investment in water saving measures, which may otherwise take years to pay off unassisted (as outlined in the DEUS February newsletter).

The fund will be $30 million per year, with a contestable component, available from July 2005. The fund will also be accompanied by a requirement for large water using businesses and all metropolitan Councils to prepare detailed water savings plans.There is summary information for the two water measures on the DEUS website:

www.deus.nsw.gov.au/Water/index.htm .

If you would like your details added to the mailing list for further information about either new funds or plans requirements then send your postal and email details to watersavings@deus.nsw.gov.au .

Source: Watts and Drops Newsletter Special Edition: April 2005

For more information contact: