Smart Energy Savings Program

The Queensland Government's Smart Energy Savings Program (SESP) is a legislative initiative effective from 1 July 2009 introduced through the Clean Energy Act 2008. The program aims to drive energy saving improvements in Queensland businesses. The program will require participating businesses to undertake an energy audit, develop an Energy Savings Plan and publish their actions for each relevant site, on a five-yearly cycle.

The Smart Energy Savings Program seeks to:

increase the adoption of energy efficient technologies and practices by business drive organisational behaviour change towards positive energy management practices
improve business competitiveness by reducing energy costs
reduce growth in Queensland's electricity demand
reduce greenhouse gas emissions from Queensland's commercial and industrial sectors.

The Smart Energy Savings Program will position the state as a leader in promoting sustainable energy management practices in business and industry.

Business information sessions for the Smart Energy Savings Program were held on June 25 and 26 2009 to assist businesses in understanding their obligations under the program, and provide support material to further explain the program.

Features

What are the Smart Energy Savings Program requirements?

To complete the Smart Energy Savings Program process, businesses will be required to:

verify their energy use
register to participate in the program
audit energy use and identify energy savings measures
produce an Energy Savings Plan of measures to implement
publish a public commitment on the actions to be taken
annually update the public commitment
in the third year, review progress and report
in the fifth year, collect baseline data for the next cycle.

Participating businesses will be required to undertake an energy audit to identify potential energy saving measures. The audit will need to comply with a Level 2 Energy Audit under Australian Standard AS/NZS 3598:2000, as a minimum requirement.

Participants will be required to use the results of the audit process to develop an Energy Savings Plan. The Energy Savings Plan will guide the business through the process of implementing energy savings measures.

Energy savings measures are those which improve energy efficiency, energy conservation and/or energy management.

The Smart Energy Savings Program will be introduced progressively, with the threshold (or amount of energy a business must consume before they are required to participate) lowered over time.

Eligibility

Businesses are required to register their site(s) for the program if the energy consumed at the site(s) in a financial year exceeds regulated energy thresholds. The program will be implemented in three levels (see below), beginning with businesses which have sites that consume between 100 terajoules (TJ) and 500 TJ in a financial year. The threshold will be reduced over time to capture smaller energy users.

For the purposes of participation in this program 'energy' refers to electricity and processed natural gas consumption. A level 2 energy audit compliant to AS/NZ 3598:2000 includes other forms of energy (e.g combined heat and power).

The Office of Clean Energy will identify program participants for each level of the program and write to businesses directly to inform them of their potential involvement in the program and outline the steps they need to take.

Businesses that are part of a corporate group that uses more than 500 TJ of energy a year will be captured by the Commonwealth's Energy Efficiency Opportunities program, and will not be required to participate in the Smart Energy Savings Program.

The energy thresholds and verification or 'trigger' years for each level of the program are as follows:

Level 1: 100TJ - 500TJ (Verification year 2009-10)

Level 2: 30TJ - 100TJ (Verification year 2010-11)

Level 3: 10TJ - 30TJ (Verification year 2014-15)

Example
Browns' Widgets consumes 50 terajoules of energy in 2009-10 (falling below the Level 1 threshold) and is therefore not required to participate in 2009-10. However, assuming the business' energy use is consistent, it would be required to register as a Level 2 participant in 2010-11.

Businesses can contact the Office of Clean Energy for more information on the Smart Energy Savings Program via email, smartenergy@cleanenergy.qld.gov.au or by phone 07 3224 7527.

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Last Updated 17 August 2009