Home & Lifestyle

Save on power with discounted energy-saving products

finger clicking on a light switch

Sue Hewitt

Posted March 02, 2020

Save hundreds of dollars on government-discounted energy-efficient products.

Victorians can save hundreds of dollars on government-discounted energy-efficient products from shower heads to air-conditioners, then save again with the resulting cheaper power bills.

Since it was launched in 2009, the Victorian Energy Upgrades program has saved the 1.8 million households and 100,000 businesses that signed up an estimated $3 billion on power. 

And it’s estimated that by choosing these greener products, households have cut greenhouse gas emissions by 52 million tonnes, the equivalent of planting an enormous forest of three million trees.

To take part, households and businesses simply need to check the Victorian government’s Energy Saver website and look at what inefficient products they have and the discounts on offer. 

Energy-saving products are installed or supplied by accredited providers found on the website and the amount of rebate they give customers can vary. For example, the discount on replacing an inefficient electric water heater with an energy-saving heat pump water heater is $306 to $493. 

Replacing a central electric heater with an efficient ducted reverse cycle air-conditioner may attract a discount of between $1173 for a small unit, $1445 for a medium unit and $1921 for a large unit. 

Many Victorians will be familiar with the LED lighting retrofit scheme, where incandescent, halogen lamp or compact fluorescent lamp lighting is replaced with LEDs. More than 1.6 million households and businesses took up the LED offer to save up to 80 per cent on home lighting bills.

Other popular products under the program include upgrading hot water systems, installing energy efficient heating and cooling appliances, shower head replacements and weather sealing of doors and fans. 

The accredited providers get Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates in return for the upgrades which they sell to large energy retailers which are required by the state government to buy a certain number of certificates annually. Each certificate represents a tonne of greenhouse gas that has been prevented from going into the atmosphere because of the energy-saving upgrades.

two light bulbs placed on a reflective surface

Saving on your power bill has never been easier.

Save with solar rebates 

Another government energy-saving initiative is the solar home battery rebate run through Solar Victoria. 

Solar Victoria chief executive officer Stan Krpan says the scheme has been expanded from 24 to 104 postcodes in areas with high population growth and high numbers of rooftop solar power systems. 

Rebates of up to $4838 are now available to Victorians living in 59 regional and 45 Melbourne postcodes. 

In Melbourne, new areas open to the solar battery program include the western and northern suburbs, the outer-east and the south-eastern growth corridor. 

Regional areas to become eligible include postcodes near Ballarat and Bendigo, the Bellarine Peninsula, around Paynesville in East Gippsland, much of West and South Gippsland, and Wodonga in the north-east. (Plus, find out more about RACV's investment in clean energy). 

In the current round there are 400 rebates available, with a further 400 to be offered in March 2020. 

Residents wanting a rebate must get approval for a battery from their distribution network service provider before installation, have an existing solar PV system larger than 5kW, and meet other eligibility criteria.