With the Carbon Tax dominating Australian politics over the past year, many could be forgiven for not looking deep into this year’s Budget for spending on energy efficient initiatives. The Government in line with much of the Budget made some new announcements, increased funds for some programs while cutting others.

While many experts predicted there would be changes to the ‘Tax Break for Green Building Program’ it was a surprise to find that this program has been totally scrapped. Building owners have been able to claim up to half of the value of energy efficient improvements to their commercial properties.

The cutting of the Tax Break for Green Building Program will save the Government $390 million over four years. Commercial building owners will now be able to access funding for commercial retrofits by applying to ‘Low Carbon Australia’ or the ‘Clean Energy Finance Corporation’.

One major criticism of the budget has been the deferring of budget items so they are not included in the forward estimates. This is the case for funding allocated for connecting large scale renewable sources to the grid. This money is now planned to be allocated in the 2018-19 financial year.

$37.1 million has been put aside for a nationally consistent legislative framework to regulate the energy efficiency of equipment and appliances. The changes are aimed at harmonising the different state and territory schemes.

The Federal Government is also expecting to develop an Energy Saving Initiative (ESI), similar to schemes that are running in Victoria and New South Wales. It is our hope that this process will occur in a timely manner so that residents and small businesses can be rewarded for installing energy efficient technologies.

The budget did reinforce the fact that the Federal Government believes the Carbon Tax will provide enough of an incentive to drive energy efficiency in the residential, commercial and industrial sectors. Whether this is the case only time will tell.