❓ Hon Alison Xamon questions the WA government regarding the axing of the 'Saving Power' program run by Environment House, focusing on funding, timing, reasons for termination, and evaluation of the program's success. The government cites redirection of funds to direct financial assistance and the difficulty of evaluating short-term energy efficiency programs as reasons.
AnsweredQoN 5838Legislative Council
QuestionView source ↗
I refer to the 'Saving Power' program, run by the Environment House in Bayswater under the umbrella of the Hardship Efficiency Program, and I ask —
(1) How much funding was provided to Environment House to run this program?
(2) How much of this funding had been spent when the announcement that this program would be cut was made?
(3) Why was this program axed without warning seven months prior to the end of the contract?
(4) On what basis was the decision to cut this program made?
(5) Was any review of the success of this program undertaken prior to the abrupt ending of this program?
(1) How much funding was provided to Environment House to run this program?
(2) How much of this funding had been spent when the announcement that this program would be cut was made?
(3) Why was this program axed without warning seven months prior to the end of the contract?
(4) On what basis was the decision to cut this program made?
(5) Was any review of the success of this program undertaken prior to the abrupt ending of this program?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
11 September 2012
Responded by
Minister for Energy
Response time
28 days
(1) Environment House was appointed by Synergy at the end of April 2011 to undertake home energy audits and associated retrofitting. Since April 2011, approximately $1.66 million has been paid to Environment House, including around $250,000 for energy efficient hardware installation. Environment House was not provided with a specific budget allocation for the program. Rather, it typically recouped the cost of providing services from Synergy, which would then provide the State Government with invoices to be reconciled and paid out of the program's budget.
(2) At the time of the announcement of the Hardship Efficiency Program's closure as part of the 2012-13 State Budget, approximately $1.38 million had been paid to Environment House.
(3- 4) Funding for the program has been redirected to the new Cost of Living Assistance payment. Given limited funding capacity, the State Government considered it more effective to provide direct financial assistance to households in need through concessions and hardship grants.
(5) Evaluating the outcomes of energy efficiency change programs is complex. It requires consistent, high quality energy consumption and service data over a lengthy period of time. Because of the relatively short period over which the program operated, and the extent of changes made to the nature of the program over that period, no formal evaluation was undertaken.
Operational reviews of the program were conducted by the former Office of Energy in late 2009 and mid-2010. In April 2010, Synergy also completed an internal, operational review of its delivery of the program.
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(2) At the time of the announcement of the Hardship Efficiency Program's closure as part of the 2012-13 State Budget, approximately $1.38 million had been paid to Environment House.
(3- 4) Funding for the program has been redirected to the new Cost of Living Assistance payment. Given limited funding capacity, the State Government considered it more effective to provide direct financial assistance to households in need through concessions and hardship grants.
(5) Evaluating the outcomes of energy efficiency change programs is complex. It requires consistent, high quality energy consumption and service data over a lengthy period of time. Because of the relatively short period over which the program operated, and the extent of changes made to the nature of the program over that period, no formal evaluation was undertaken.
Operational reviews of the program were conducted by the former Office of Energy in late 2009 and mid-2010. In April 2010, Synergy also completed an internal, operational review of its delivery of the program.
Notice: This document is created or edited using unregistered or evaluation copy of rtLib valid for testing or development purposes only. To use it for productive or any other purposes please register it. You may purchase the license on
http://www.rtlib.com
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