Last week the South Australian Business Chamber published an article about electricity prices and suggested how businesses might reduce their bills. Another option you may not be aware of is the Retailer Energy Productivity Scheme (REPS) which provides incentives for South Australian businesses to save energy.
The REPS aims to improve energy productivity for households and businesses by setting energy productivity targets to be met by electricity and gas retailers. These targets are determined annually by the Minister for Energy and Mining. To achieve them, obliged retailers to offer incentives to households and businesses.
These incentives offer South Australian businesses and households a range of discounts on energy-efficient upgrades, including insulation and building sealing, installation of reverse cycle air-conditioners, water heating, LED lighting and EV chargers. The full list of 31 available activities can be accessed here. While not all are applicable to businesses, with some only suitable for households, if your business consumes less than 160MWh of electricity per year, you qualify for activities listed under ‘small energy consuming customer’.
Some activities may require a once-off minimum co-payment of $33 which provides access to potentially significant reductions in energy use. For instance, by switching all lights to LED bulbs (which on average represent 10% of a business’s electricity bill) could save up to 80% of lighting costs.
Regardless of the current energy provider, Interested businesses can contact obliged energy retailers or activity providers directly for advice or refer to the scheme’s
