Win for Victorian renters: new energy efficiency standards set to cut power bills and climate pollution

Environment Victoria says amendments to Victoria’s Residential Tenancies Act passed last night set renters on a path to safer, warmer houses and lower energy bills. The legislation will allow the Victorian Government to set energy efficiency standards and ensure all rental properties meet basic energy efficiency benchmarks.

“There is now no impediment for the next Victorian Government to introduce new energy efficiency standards to lower energy bills and cut climate pollution,” said Mark Wakeham, Environment Victoria Chief Executive Officer.

“Hundreds of thousands of Victorians live in rental homes that are dangerously hot in summer and freezing in winter. The single most effective action governments can take to both cut renters’ cost of living and cut climate pollution is to set standards that require rental homes to have basic energy efficiency measures like insulation and draught-sealing.

“Renters are demanding new standards to guarantee their homes have basic energy efficiency measures like insulation. The diverse organisations in the One Million Homes Alliance have campaigned hard for these laws because energy efficiency is worst in rental houses and more than one in four Victorians rent their home.

“The introduction of household energy efficiency standards could save tenants up to $850 a year on power bills and cut one million tonnes of carbon pollution every year.

“With home ownership increasingly out of reach for many low and middle-income Victorians rental houses must meet basic standards. We now expect that whoever wins the November election will set energy efficiency standards that protect tenants from rising power bills and give landlords a clear incentive to invest in energy saving measures,” said Mr Wakeham.

Environment Victoria, Victorian Council of Social Services, Tenants Victoria, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, Consumer Action Law Centre, Moreland Energy Council, Uniting, Yarra Energy Foundation, the Alternative Technology Association and the Northern Alliance for Greenhouse Action work together through the One Million Homes Alliance to improve the energy performance of homes in Victoria, with a focus on low-income households.