Increase business and energy productivity

While the Australian Government and state and territory governments have educated Australians on the benefits of energy efficiency in the past, the programs have not been universally available across jurisdictions and have often been short-term and inconsistent.

Lack of information is a particular barrier for small to medium enterprises, which are less able to identify energy efficiency measures and may not have the information or expertise to access available government support.33

Building on initiatives such as the Business Energy Advice Program, businesses should be provided with targeted advice to help identify and implement upgrades to equipment and modernise processes.

Harmonising energy efficiency opportunities across jurisdictions will enhance economies of scale and reduce the compliance burden for businesses with footprints across multiple states. Providing consistent communication will support peer-to-peer learning and help businesses understand their opportunities.

However, the potential savings are often not enough of an incentive to drive the take-up of opportunities.34 Including upfront financial incentives will help businesses to overcome behavioural inertia and any initial cost barriers to implementing energy efficiency measures. Existing incentive programs (for example, the Instant Asset Write-Off Scheme) could be leveraged to target energy efficiency investments.

The incentives would complement the COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery initiatives being offered by the Australian Government and state and territory governments. The incentives would also support and target priority sectors such as energy-intensive manufacturing sectors, food and mineral processing, high-energy-use industries and data centres.