Electrical industry welcomes end of Green Loans scheme

According to electrical industry group Master Electricians Australia, the energy-efficiency sector hopes the scrapping of the flawed Federal Government Green Loans and Green Start scheme will begin to restore consumer confidence in the market.

Welcoming the closure of the programs, Master Electricians Australia Chief Executive Malcolm Richards said genuine energy-efficiency auditors had found it almost impossible to win jobs while the flawed government-backed scheme was in the market.

“The perceived lack of proper qualifications of the Green Loan auditors was always a fundamental flaw in the scheme,” Richards said. “The issues this created for the energy-efficiency sector were two-fold. On the one hand, consumers were being offered incentives to use taxpayer-funded auditors, while on the other the inferior nature of the service undermined confidence in the broader industry.

“It is now important for state governments to also scrap all similar programs to allow genuine operators in the energy-efficiency sector to rebuild the collapsed market.

“State government programs suffer from the same flaws as the federal program because there was also a large element of ‘greenwash’ built into the design.

“For the market to recover, these sub-standard green schemes must also be scrapped, otherwise they will continue to taint genuine energy-efficiency operators.”

Richards added that Master Electricians Australia - a not-for-profit industry group - had established the Energy Management Institute to train and accredit energy auditors and raise standards across the sector, stating: “The Energy Management Institute trains qualified Master Electricians to become accredited energy auditors, who can identify the best energy-saving measures for households.

“By raising the standards of accreditation throughout the sector, and providing consumers with a service that they can trust, we can begin to repair the damage done to the market by the flawed government programs.

“This is very important because there are real cost savings that can be achieved in households through energy reduction, and that is good for consumers, industry and the environment.”