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Business leaders call out COAG: If you ignore energy productivity you will lock in high energy costs
IN A LETTER to federal and state energy ministers ahead of their COAG Energy Council meeting on Friday, the Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity (A2EP) demanded that energy productivity be put on the agenda.
“The cheapest and quickest way to reduce energy bills is to help businesses and householders use energy smarter – that means increasing energy efficiency and productivity,” said A2EP chair Jonathan Jutsen.
“High energy prices in Australia are for now an uncomfortable reality. If COAG ignores smarter energy use at this meeting, it will leaves householders and businesses to deal with higher energy costs.
“High costs are within COAG’s responsibility to address. It has a National Energy Productivity Plan (NEPP) gathering dust on a shelf. At their meeting on Friday, energy ministers could deliver meaningful reductions to bills if they fund and implement the NEPP, and commit to expanding the program and setting firm deliverables and timetable.
“Using energy better is the smart, first move to reduce costs. Current approaches to energy policy fail to consider smarter energy use. This leads to increasing costs, and ever greater demand for energy.
“COAG has failed to progress the NEPP and therefore has failed to address energy costs for households and business.
“A2EP is calling on the COAG Energy Council to reduce costs immediately through smarter use of energy, not solely focussing on long-term and costly insfrastructure investments," said Mr Jutsen.
About A2EP
The Australian Alliance for Energy Productivity is a not for profit coalition of business, government and environmental leaders promoting a more energy productive economy.
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