Response to Government announcement on Capacity Investment Scheme

Please quote Energy Consumers Australia CEO Brendan French:

“Energy Consumers Australia welcomes this morning’s announcement which is both an important step in providing reliable supply to consumers and also a continued firm commitment by Federal and jurisdictional governments to achieving Australia’s Net Zero targets.

“While this announcement about new renewable generation is welcome, there is more work required on the consumer side of the equation.

“Our Stepping Up report identifies major cost benefits for Australian consumers from Consumer Energy Resources. Household batteries and demand response can provide significant capacity, often at lower cost than utility scale generation and without new transmission infrastructure.

“Expanding the use of solar, household batteries, and demand response is the ‘book end’ to expanding large-scale generation. We need both to meet our targets.

“Affordability is consistently the number one concern for consumers. Our most recent Energy Consumer Sentiment Survey showed 52% of consumers are more concerned about paying their electricity bill than they were a year ago (up 15 points). We need to ensure the best deal for this new taxpayer investment by ensuring that generation is located in the optimal places to cut down on additional spend on transmission.”