Power-guzzling households will be slugged disproportionately and battlers will be insulated from the full force of rising bills under a major shake-up of electricity pricing in WA.

Thousands of homeowners will be quizzed in coming weeks about their power use and the make-up of the family home as bureaucrats begin changing the single-price tariff, where every kilowatt hour of power costs the same, to one where heavier users get much higher bills.

Under the new structure, every house would get, at a low rate, an amount of power deemed necessary to maintain essential services in a house. The next block of power would be sold at a higher price and any electricity consumed after that would cost disproportionately more. The change would mean big consumers will subsidise the artificially low prices charged in the first block.

Energy Minister Peter Collier said the changes, which may not need to be backed by legislation and could be in place next year, would ensure “the fairest tariff structure for all Western Australians”.

The survey of up to 10,000 households will pave the way for future changes which could ultimately see telecommunications-enabled meter boxes fitted with telecommunications devices rolled out so power utilities can remotely switch off individual appliances in a home.

Energy providers would be able to turn off pool pumps and air-conditioners to conserve power in times of peak use.

Office of Energy acting co-ordinator of energy Anne Hill, who is heading the review, said she wanted a price structure which forced big users to bear the brunt of paying for the additional infrastructure required to meet their above-average power demands.

Mrs Hill briefed the WA Council of Social Service this week about the changes to ensure the sector was involved in determining how much electricity was needed to run a basic house. That information would be used to calculate what was charged in the discounted first block of power use.

Calculations by The Weekend West indicate a three-bedroom household, with a gas hot water system, a fridge, a TV, a washing machine and a handful of other household appliances, would consume about 3590 kilowatt-hours of power for an annual bill of about $750.

A “representative” household of two parents, one of whom worked, and two children, consumed an average 6067 kilowatt-hours of electricity last year, Synergy said.

Concessions, principally the supply charge rebate, which allows low-income families to claim back the $140 connection fee levied on every house, will be reviewed as part of the reform to ensure big families who use a lot of power are not disadvantaged.

The Office of Energy is investigating the effectiveness of “direct load control” power boxes which allow a power provider to turn off air-conditioners and pool pumps.

The appliances would need to be which are fitted with wireless modules to ensure the grid was not drained of power.

WA has a power capacity of 4000 megawatts, but the last 400 megawatts are used for just 40 hours a year. The “peaking” power stations which kick in to provide this power cost billions to build and maintain.

A price rise of about 50 per cent over the past few years has still fallen short of “cost reflectivity”, with the system requiring a $164 million taxpayer-subsidy this year.

- Ben Harvey, State Political Editor, The Weekend West, News 3, November 27- 28, 2010

“They sit like two lines of giant dominoes.

And as they sway and move as they track the sun, the new solar panels at Ocean Park Aquarium, near Denham, almost seem to have a life of their own.

The two rows of 18 trackers stretch for about 100m on the area just inland of the aquarium’s display tanks and shark pool.

The whole structure represents what is believed to be one of the biggest privately owned solar-hybrid power systems in WA, with the ability to power the equivalent of about 20 average-sized homes a day.

The system is a commonsense way of keeping Ocean Park running.

Because of its ocean front at Shark Bay, Ocean Park is not connected to the power grid.

As a result power for pumping the water in the tanks around, filtration systems, refrigeration, cooking and power for the managers and staff is produced on site.

Large-capacity, deep-cycle batteries store any surplus energy collected during the day so that during the night excess stored solar energy can be drawn on.

There is also a back-up diesel generator but the solar panels are expected to save about 54,000 litres of diesel a year.

The system cost just over $1 million, began running late in August and Ocean Park says it has created a lot of interest among locals and tourists.”

 - Malcolm Quekett, The West Australian, 22 September, 2010

Co-owners Rick and Edmund Fenny said the system added an extra and eco-friendly attraction to about 200 marine species on display.

Fremantle’s solar energy station Sungrid and Murdoch University are close to providing Perth’s first private solar station.

An additional 171 solar Panels were recently connected with the existing solar panels at Murdoch University and a further 44 kW is needed to meet the 100kW target to qualify for a solar power station.

As well as achieving substantial energy cost savings for the university, the panels also helped it reduce its carbon footprint.

Sungrid director Phil Livingston said the solar panels produced enough electricity to run 45 houses which was also enough energy to operate a television for more that 368, 002 hours, power more than 370 computers for one year or run more than 1500 houses for one day.

THE GAZETTE, Tuesday, March 16, 2010-08-08

The director of Murdoch University’s Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Peter Newman singled out the new Tuscan-styled homes being built in newer suburbs.

“Especially those being built with black roofs and no eaves which are so air-conditioning hungry. They have plunged the city into an electricity crisis,” he said.

National Trust chairman David Dolan said there were some beautiful spaces for apartments in Perth’s heritage buildings but, “The need for parking is stopping people from taking up these apartments.”

-THE SUNDAY TIMES, April 17, 2005

Everyone is talking about it. The majority of local candidates are advocating it but what does it mean and how would it change Fremantle?

Here’s a quick glimpse of what a sustainable Fremantle might look like in 2010 if we get it right.

It’s a summer Saturday morning and after watering my native garden in White Gum Valley from my rainwater tank that doubles as an insulting wall to my house. I decide to head to Fremantle city. I jump on the new light rail that runs down South Street and South Terrace so regularly I don’t even need a timetable. Who needs a car?

Sitting down to my organic, fair-trade coffee at Gino’s I admire the new silent, clean hydrogen buses that glide by and the excellent new bicycle lanes that run both ways up South Terrace, now just a one-way street in central Fremantle. Shortly after Peter Newman joins me and we decide to wander down to Victoria Quay to have a look at the almost completed wind farm on Rous Head which adds a dramatic edge to Fremantle’s skyline.

We agree it is a bold new statement of Fremantle’s new claim to be the sustainability capital of Australia. The wind farm, in combination with the new super efficient street lighting, has meant Fremantle is almost self-sufficient in power, dramatically reducing its greenhouse gas emissions and its power bill.

Now that the port has moved the bulk of its functions to the outer harbour the whole of Victoria Quay has been reopened to the public and we are able to walk along its whole length.

In the last few years Fremantle has rapidly developed as a knowledge economy centre and less as an industrial port. The bulk of the containers are now taken to the outer harbour port in Kwinana after community pressure about the excessive burden on the transport infrastructure around the port. The Fremantle Port continues to be active on North Quay but now the majority of containers are loaded onto trains. Jumping on the hydrogen CAT we head out to the new arts precinct that has been built on the old Fremantle eastern bypass land, passing the FERN sustainability centre on the way.

The restored warehouses mixed with energy efficient, medium density houses have created a new centre for artists to work and live. Today’s exhibition is celebrating the Dockers winning the AFL premiership for the third year in a row.

This is just one vision of what a sustainable Fremantle might look like. It will be a vision that meets the needs of current and future generations through integration of environmental protection, social advancement and economic prosperity.

Sustainability could take many forms, all better than the present, but one thing I am sure of is that it will be a city in which your carefully sorted recycling doesn’t get put into landfill.

-COCKBURN/MELVILLE HERALD, Saturday, April 16, 2005

Warning Over ‘Killer’ Air

Bad air costing us $12b in health bills each year: Canberra Report

PEOPLE are dying because of the air they breathe Indoors, according to a body calling for new action over air quality.

The warning came yesterday as a report from the Clean Air Society of Australia and New Zealand urged that a national authority to be set up to regulate indoor air pollution, which can be more harmful than that outdoors.

The report said hundreds of thousands of people were being harmed by the air they breathed.

It said Australians spent up to 96 per cent of their time cooped up inside, exposing themselves to dangerous amounts of pollutants.

Pollution causes included pets, cockroaches, cigarette smoke, mould, fungi, appliances, furnishings and paint.

The problem racked up a national health bill worth $12 billion a year, it said.

Society president Len Ferrari said poor indoor air quality had caused several deaths. “In Victoria in 2000 there were five deaths caused by carbon monoxide poisoning associated with gas heaters,”  Mr Ferrari said. 

‘It’s time for governments in Australia to get their act together.”

The situation was made worse by the push for energy efficiency in house design, he said. “Modern buildings are designed to seal off buildings to conserve heat, but in doing so they limit ventilation and prevent air circulation, thus trapping the pollutants inside,” Mr Ferrari said.

The quality of outdoor air is strictly governed by national enforceable standards which are rarely broken. The society’s report called for a national standard on indoor pollutant levels.

Environment Minister David Kemp yesterday said air pollution was one of the nation’s highest environmental priorities. He announced $350,000 in Federal funding to be spent tackling the problem.

”The paper is an important step towards addressing the health risks of poor indoor air quality,” he said.

The money will fund a national study to investigate the impact of unflued gas heater emissions, assess exposure to wood smoke and identify pollution sources in schools.

Opposition environment spokesman Kelvin Thomson said the report should be taken as a warning for authorities not to wait until people took action in courts o pverollution levels.

Legal action around the awful effects of environmental tobacco smoke is already breaking barriers down, but this paper should be taken as a warning that we should not wait until there is litigation over poor indoor air quality to take action,” he said.

- AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED PRESS

- THE WEST AUSTRALIAN FRIDAY OCTOBER 18, 2002

The solar village program near Blacktown demonstrates the viability of solar power in meeting our energy needs and providing a solution to climate change (Solar Power Goes West, 7/4) however the Federal Government’s Photovoltaic Rebate Program is about to run out of funds.

As yet the Federal Government has made no commitment to extend this excellent program which has assisted nearly 7000 solar power systems across Australia.

Over 1100 jobs and the viability of the solar industry as a whole, is under threat.

Australia could be a world leader in solar technology.

The federal budget must support the development of positive solutions to climate change and assist our solar industry with the Photovoltaic Rebate Program.

- Mark Wakeman, Energy Specialist, Greenpeace, Sydney, NSW

- THE WEEKEND AUSTRALIAN, April 9, 2005