Commonwealth, State and Territory Energy Ministers today agreed to introduce higher national energy efficiency standards for air-conditioners sold in Australia to take effect from October 2011.
In addition to this agreement, the Ministerial Council of Energy (MCE) at its meeting in Brisbane today also agreed to recommend that the Council of Australian Governments agree to the Intergovernmental Agreement on Energy Supply Industry Safety to enhance public and energy industry safety.
Minister for Resources and Energy, and Chair of the MCE, Martin Ferguson AM MP said today's agreements will benefit both industry and consumers.
“A co-operative approach was taken in reaching agreement on the Intergovernmental Agreement on Energy Supply Industry Safety, which will deliver better safeguards to workers in the energy sector,” Minister Ferguson said.
“This agreement will be particularly important in times of emergency, such as the floods currently being experienced around much of the country, in allowing mobility of electricity supply workers across state boundaries to help maintain and repair electricity services.
“It will reduce the compliance burden and costs for industry, while providing the highest safety standards for workers and the community as a whole.
“This outcome is particularly important in the current environment where we have shortages of skilled labour, in allowing workers to move more readily.
“The agreement on national air-conditioner standards is a good energy efficiency outcome.
“Air-conditioners are a significant factor in recent increases in peak demand for electricity, and improving their energy efficiency will help directly reduce electricity bills by lowering energy use, and indirectly by reducing the investment requirement in networks and generators.
“This national standard is important. In too many areas of energy and climate change policy in the past we have divergent policies across individual jurisdictions and the time has come to work to achieve uniform national outcomes so as to avoid unnecessary costs on industry and households.
“By working to streamline arrangements, Energy Ministers are helping to address the problems of multiple conflicting jurisdictional policies in the energy space.”
The new air-conditioning standards follow the same approach being taken by the Australian Government in seeking to introduce national generator emission standards for new coal fired power stations, and the objective for emission standards is to establish a similar uniform national outcome.
“In all these cases, the need for a harmonised and national approach is critical to achieving real outcomes and minimising costs to consumers,” Minister Ferguson said.
The MCE communiqué is available at www.mce.gov.au.