Air-conditioner Levy Set to Cool Energy Demand

Friday, 08 August 2003 10:00

"Up to 50,000 air-conditioners are set to be sold every year in NSW," said Jeff Angel, TEC Director. "These energy guzzlers are driving claims for $10 billion of inefficient spending on electricity networks."

The increasing market penetration of air-conditioners has been blamed by Integral Energy and Energy Australia for surging demand.

"Air-conditioners consume around 40 per cent more energy than natural cooling, and use up to 250 per cent more network capacity on hot days. Yet prices are averaged so that low energy users subsidise electricity hogs. With networks planning to spend $10 billion to cope with demand, it's the responsible energy users who will be unfairly footing the bill."

"A levy of 10 per cent on the total cost of a new air-conditioner would raise around $5 million per year which should go to the Government's Demand Management Fund and energy efficiency solutions." said Mr Angel. "A levy and higher electricity prices would also send a message to consumers that air-conditioners are energy guzzlers."

* $100 for every $1000 of a/c unit cost. Assume $1000 each and 50% of new customers to retailers over next 10 years.

"The Government's own study has been ignored in the rush to accommodate demand rather than slow it. Over 5000 MW has been identified by the Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) for energy savings in NSW alone. Meanwhile, the National Electricity Market (NEM) is claiming that massive investment in infrastructure is needed to supply a mere 1400 MW for the whole of Australia. This is grave economic incompetence for which the whole community will pay."

"Energy distributors in NSW have proposed spending only $3 million per year on Demand Management compared to $1 billion on network augmentation. When Demand Management has been shown to be extremely cost-effective, this just doesn't make economic sense."
 

For further information

Contact
:
Jeff Angel
Phone
:
61 2 9299 5599
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WWW
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http://www.tec.org.au/