<
https://onestepoffthegrid.com.au/a-basic-right-why-energy-for-cooking-heating-and-cooling-should-be-free/>
"With the current cost of living hitting low-income earners hard, a leading
energy researcher is calling on the Federal Government to provide free energy
for all Australian households to pay for ‘essential’, non-discretionary, energy
uses – cooking, heating and cooling.
In the current edition of the
Australian Quarterly, Dr Bjorn Sturmberg,
Senior Research Leader at the Battery Storage and Grid Integration Program at
the ANU, argues that a basic energy right (BER) would reaffirm that energy is
an essential service to which everyone is entitled.
Withholding these essential energy services because of financial hardship, “has
devastating, cascading impacts on other essential rights, such as health,
education and employment, social connection.”
Sturmberg argues a Basic Energy Right could be implemented within current
billing arrangements, and any electricity consumed in addition to essential
services be paid for through existing markets, as they are now.
“Splitting energy consumption into two categories reflects the difference
between the value of energy as an ‘essential’ service, for activities like
cooking dinner,” says Sturmberg, “and ‘flexible’ uses, such as charging an
electric vehicle.”
Basic energy schemes have been implemented in various places throughout the
world. In 2019 in New Delhi, the local government made the first 200 kWh of
electricity per month free, and provided a 50% discount for uses between
200-400kWh.
In the Northern Territory, the Bushlight program provided First Nations
communities with a dedicated electricity circuit for essential appliances, like
a fridge, which remains powered even when the household can’t afford to pay for
extra energy."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
