Renters could save $20bn on bills in a decade from rooftop solar and appliance upgrades – if landlords act

Renters make up nearly a third of Australian households, yet many are missing out on energy upgrades – such as insulation, appliances and rooftop solar – that could slash their power bills and improve home comfort. The problem, according to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), is landlords’ lack of motivation. “The responsibility to do a lot of these household energy upgrades – to install insulation, to change out appliances like heaters and hot water systems – rests with the landlord,” the energy finance analyst Jay Gordon said. “But because they don’t get the energy bill savings, there’s essentially no financial motivation for them to do it.” This “split incentive” was the root cause behind the lower rates of insulation in rental properties, according to the IEEFA analysis. Separately, research from Energy Consumers Australia this week found the split incentive explained why 44% of owner-occupiers had solar compared with 11% of renters. Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email IEEFA modelled a range of energy efficiency measures across thousands of scenarios, and different types of households in every state and territory. Gordon said that in the vast majority of cases a combination of efficiency upgrades, efficient appliances and rooftop solar halved energy bills, relative to a poorly performing home. Collectively, the upgrades could save renters $20bn within a decade, and $107bn by 2050 – outweighing the capital costs. …