Dismal energy efficiency policy is costing Australian households dearly – in some states more than others

Australia's State Energy Performance Policy Scorecard has found that inconsistent energy efficiency standards across states and territories are locking households into higher energy consumption and bills. Federal Coalition figures have argued that mandatory efficiency standards for new homes add cost and should be optional, contending that affordability concerns outweigh thermal performance requirements. The Energy Efficiency Council counters that upfront building costs are far smaller than the lifetime energy bills paid by occupants of inefficient homes, and that thermal standards ensure safety and comfort, not luxury.

Where this fits

This sits at the cost edge of the energy transition. While Australia has poured policy support into rooftop solar and batteries, which are visible, subsidised, and low-cost per megawatt-hour, the less glamorous work of thermal efficiency in the built environment has been starved of coordination and mandate. Efficiency is the cheapest megawatt-hour of all: it avoids the need to generate, transmit, or store power in the first place. Fragmented state-level policy means that spending on heating, cooling and lighting in Australian homes stays unnecessarily high, and that drain flows into grid demand that then requires more generation capacity, more firming, and more transmission infrastructure to serve.

What it means

Weak efficiency standards mean Australian households subsidise poor building practice through higher lifetime energy bills. The grid sees the consequence as sustained peak demand that cannot be met by weather-dependent renewables alone, driving the need for gas peaking plants and battery storage, both of which add system cost. A coherent national efficiency floor would shrink the generation task itself, lowering the total cost of the transition and reducing dependence on firming infrastructure that remains expensive and, in Australia's case, locked into a fossil-fuel supply chain.