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NatHERS for Existing Homes
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Master Electricians Australia (MEA) is the trade association representing electrical contractors recognised by industry, government and the community as the electrical industry’s leading business partner, knowledge source and advocate. You can visit our website at www.masterelectricians.com.au
MEA commends the Federal Government for extending energy efficiency improvements to existing homes and apartments through Version 2 of the Home Energy Ratings Disclosure Framework
While we acknowledge the success of the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) for new build single dwellings, and the shortened qualification proposed in the consultation paper, MEA is concerned about the availability of assessors to accommodate assessments of existing single dwellings and apartments.
To address this resource constraint, MEA proposes that government continue to support energy efficiency assessments, including by licensed electrical workers accredited in solar and battery systems under Solar
Accreditation Australia (SAA). Accredited licenced electrical workers could then assess assets like appliances, solar panels, batteries, and household electrification. This would be especially practical given the requirement for on-site data collection in existing home assessments.
While a full ‘star rating’ assessment of the thermal shell of the building can still occur, we can expect this
‘mini assessment’ to save consumers money and expedite the full assessment process. It should be planned in a manner to enable a cheaper full assessment provided conducted within a certain period of the energy efficiency assessment.
Since the energy efficiency assessments will include upgrade advice, clients can act more quickly on energy- efficiency improvements if their electrician provides the advice. This avoids delays from having a separate assessor give the advice and then contacting an electrician, which could otherwise lead to many households avoiding the upgrades due to the added administrative burden, as well as avoiding delays in engaging a
NatHERS assessor to perform the assessment.
We recommend that NatHERS (and NABERS) assessors continue to assess the home’s thermal envelopes.
However, we also recommend continued and expanded government support of the ‘mini assessment’ option of efficient energy usage to enable households to decrease their energy bills and be more energy efficient, at less cost and we expect substantially less waiting time than will likely be the case for a NatHERS assessor to undertake the assessment.
We look forward to the outcome of this consultation and are available for further discussions on integrating accredited licensed electrical workers into the NatHERS (and NABERS) scheme.
Chris Lehmann & Georgia Holmes
23 August 2024
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