Victoria can build back better

Renew is proud to join our partners in the One Million Homes alliance in calling on the Victorian government to build back better.

Home should be healthy and comfortable – but for too many Victorians, poor home energy efficiency and energy performance means unhealthy homes and unnecessarily high power bills. And with millions spending more time indoors, the Coronavirus pandemic has shown the importance of good home energy performance like never before.

Stimulus spending to get people back to work post-crisis is a perfect opportunity to invest in home energy retrofit programs that will tackle the overlapping emergencies of health and climate change.

Social housing residents, low income renters and low income home owners are particularly likely to benefit from well-designed retrofit programs. Energy upgrades have long term benefits and save money in the long run – but the upfront cost is a barrier for people on low incomes. This is where government should step in.

We call on the Victorian government to include action on home energy challenges in its pandemic recovery plans. This should include:

  • Immediate support for low-income and vulnerable households
  • Fully-funded household retrofit packages for low-income homeowners, social housing homes, and low-income rental properties
  • Subsidies for low-income households to replace inefficient appliances or purchase new energy efficient appliances
  • Disclosure of energy efficiency ratings for new and existing homes
  • Increase the ambition of energy standards in the Residential Tenancies Act

You can read our full statement here.