Anger over delays to Rudd Government’s household energy efficiency programs

Housing industry and environmental industry figures have joined the Federal Opposition party in criticising delays with the Federal Government’s household energy efficiency programs.

A software glitch in a key Government energy assessment tool has meant delays to the start of the Government’s Green Loans Program, which is intended to provide free sustainability assessments and 10,000 interest-free loans to around 360,000 households to help them make their homes more efficient.

The program was supposed to start in July, but remains stalled and environmental groups are not impressed.

“Energy efficiency is a no-brainer, it’s really a low hanging fruit,” says Environment Business Australia CEO Fiona Wain. “We really need to speed it up.”

Since the assessment’s introduction, 17,300 households have registered for assessment and 7,900 of those assessments have been completed, Minister for Climate Change Penny Wong told Parliament yesterday.

But the software problems mean the reports necessary to obtain loans have not been issued.

In addition, there have been problems with a program designed to provide households with $1,600 to fund the installation of insulation.

Some participants say the program is not being adequately policed and installers are simply unable to get insulation materials.

“It was a good idea at the time but there was no regulation put in place to make sure it was policed correctly,” Peter Schuback, the founder of insulation installer Comfort Zone told SmartCompany.

“There’s a major problem with the big companies hoarding and the little companies not getting any [insulation] bats. People are signing up on houses but not completing the work, and still collecting the Government rebate.”

Bunnings has bought $40 million worth of ceiling bats and is on-selling them to its preferred installers.

But Schuback says the lack of bats means some smaller traders are turning to Chinese materials, which are not subjected to adequate health testing.

“There are concerns about formaldehyde and salium, which can cause leukemia, because the [Chinese] bats are not being tested for those substances.”

Schuback says traders are not being stopped from collecting rebates on insulation work they haven’t done.

“Some guys are signing off on houses they haven’t done and collecting the rebate on them… and there are too many shonkys over sizing and overcharging, or on the other hand underquoting just to get the job and not actually putting enough insulation up. They’re just putting up insulation where the customer can see and not finishing the job properly.”