Allegra Spender (Wentworth, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I am delighted to second this motion and to speak in support of the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment (Cheaper Home Batteries) Bill 2023. I would like to commend the member for Indi for introducing this bill and for being a champion across this parliament and the previous government for home batteries, not only for the impact they can have on climate but also for the impact they can have on households in reducing energy costs. This bill will reduce the cost of installing household batteries by making them eligible for technology certificates under the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. This may seem like a small change but it is crucial to unlocking the much bigger economic and emissions reductions opportunity of electrifying Australian households and powering them with rooftop solar, subsequently helping households reduce their energy bills.

While fossil fuel prices remain high following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Australians' rooftop solar remains the cheapest home energy in the world, able to deliver electricity prices as low as 3c per kilowatt. The low cost of solar means that, if we can power our lives with Australian sunshine and switch out expensive gas appliances for more efficient electrical alternatives, the average household could permanently reduce their power bills by over $3,000 per year. At the same time as saving money, families would also be going zero emissions for their energy use. When we add up across Australia's 10 million households, Rewiring Australia estimates that we could cut over 40 per cent of our emissions in the domestic economy and save more than $300 billion between now and 2035. That's cost-of-living relief, and it's great climate policy.

Household batteries are crucial to seizing the electrification opportunity. By enabling families to store cheap energy and use it when the sun isn't shining, it helps families manage rising energy costs. It increases security of our energy supply, and it takes pressure off the rest of the electricity grid. So making batteries cheaper is important for people across Australia. It's important for people in rural Victoria, where energy storage can also be life-saving if you're cut off the grid by a bushfire. It's a important for renters in Wentworth, where combining a battery with a shared solar solution can reduce reliance on expensive coal and gas. And it's important to remote Aboriginal communities, where a household battery can mean people have access to cheap solar 24/7.

Cheaper home batteries are a climate and cost-of-living imperative for all Australia, but without a helping hand from government we won't achieve the pace of uptake we need. Although home batteries are coming down in price all the time, the upfront costs of between $7,000 and $15,000 remain a significant barrier to many. This is why only 35,000 households installed a battery in 2021, but it's less than a tenth of the people who were installing solar in the same year. And it's a far cry from the hundreds of thousands we need to install each year if we're going to electrify Australia's 10 million households over the next decade.

Australia is the household solar capital of the world. This bill has the opportunity to catalyse Australia being the household battery capital of the world, along with the impact that could have on our broader emissions and also household bills. But government support is crucial, as it was for catalysing the uptake of solar. When it's provided, we get the results—more batteries, lower power prices, low emissions—that we want to see. If the government is serious about cost-of-living relief and if it's serious about climate action, this is the legislation it should support.

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