<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/may/27/australia-home-energy-bill-savings-renters-landlords-rooftop-solar-insulation-appliances>
"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,” 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.
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.
But regulation was needed to solve the split-incentive problem, Gordon said."
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
