MEDIA STATEMENT
February 18, 2022
Saul Griffith joins Helen Haines in plan for cheaper power bills
Australian adviser to US President Joe Biden and energy entrepreneur Saul Griffith visited a local Wodonga renewable energy business on Friday to show support for a bill to reduce the price of home batteries introduced by Federal Independent Member for Indi Helen Haines this week.
Saul Griffith, who was born and raised in Australia, but has made his career in the United States, is a proponent of moving household power-use solely to renewable electricity, and switching households to all electric appliances and vehicles. In his book The Big Switch, published this week, Dr Griffith shows households could soon save $5000 a year by switching to electric vehicles and appliances including a home battery.
The visit to Wodonga coincides with the introduction of the Cheaper Home Batteries Bill by Dr Haines in the Federal Parliament, which would expand a government incentive scheme for household solar to include home batteries.
“Australian rooftop solar already leads the world,” Griffith said. “Financing solar on your rooftop gives you clean electricity for about ~6 cents a kWh, whereas the grid average is about ~30 cents a kWh, with emissions on top. To lock in more of those savings you need a battery that can store your cheap energy for use through the night.”
Dr Haines said the introduction of the Bill showed Independents were bringing real action on climate change that would benefit Australian households.
“Australia has the highest uptake of solar globally, and the use of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme has been a major contributor to that,” Dr Haines said.
“My plan would allow people to take the next step, by reducing the cost of installing a battery, households would see their power bills fall even further.
“Saul’s analysis shows how much Australian households could benefit from cheaper batteries, but the major parties are missing in action. I have done the work to present a smart, detailed policy that would make batteries cheaper and push down the cost of power.
“I know many Australians want to reduce their emissions to take action on climate change, but they also want to reduce their power bills. This policy makes it easier to achieve both those goals.”