Most renters avoid heating and cooling homes due to costs
A new survey has found at least 70 per cent of renters are avoiding heating and cooling their homes to save money. (AAP: James Ross)
In short:
A new report has found that about 70 per cent of renters were avoiding heating and cooling their homes to save money.
The report from Energy Consumers Australia surveyed about 4,000 households across the country.
What's next?
Some experts and advocates have called for stronger minimum energy standards across the country.
When the weather starts to warm, Alessia Palumbo goes into her cupboard to grab some bubble wrap to act as a makeshift flyscreen for her windows.
The heat seeps into her three-bedroom unit in Adelaide, overheating in summer and locking in the cold during winter.
"The whole house is kitted out with ducted air con, but it's not part of my lease terms, so we can't use it," she told the ABC.
"It's never been maintained or not kept. So I guess the infrastructure is certainly there to make it a little bit more comfortable for us."
Her experiences are not isolated, according to a new report from Energy Consumers Australia.
Ms Palumbo says during the summer, cooking in her kitchen is almost impossible because her unit has poor ventilation. (Supplied)
It surveyed about 4,000 households, finding that about 70 per cent of renters are avoiding heating and cooling their homes to save money.
About 40 per cent of renters said they could not keep their homes at a comfortable temperature without using a lot of energy.
Energy Consumers Australia spokesperson Ashley Bradshaw said the survey found that whether someone was an owner-occupier or a renter materially changed their energy costs.
"So we find that renters of the similar size pay more on energy bills than home-owner households,"he said.
"[Renters] have less access to heating and cooling if they want it, or also less control over how much energy they use when they do want heating and cooling."
Differences between renters and owner-occupiers
There are clear differences between the changes a renter and an owner-occupier can make in their homes.
Australian National University researchers recently examined 2017-18 data — the "latest figures available" — and concluded about four per cent of renters had rooftop solar compared with one in four home-owners.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said last month one in three Australian homes now had rooftop solar.
Energy Consumer Australia's survey found 11 per cent of renters who responded had solar, and 36 per cent had at least one form of insulation.
Rents nationally have also increased by nearly 44 per cent during the past five years.
The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute's managing director, Michael Fotheringham, said owner-occupiers had an incentive to invest in energy-efficient upgrades, such as insulation, solar, and hot water systems, depending on their budget.
"They'll then reap the benefit with cost savings in terms of their energy bills going forward," Dr Fotheringham said.
Michael Fotheringham says governments could do more to incentivise investors to improve energy efficiency standards for rental properties. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
But that was not the case for renters.
"That's up to the owners, the investors in the property, and the challenge we tend to hit is that investors would need to spend money to make those improvements," he said.
"But it's the tenants who'd experienced the benefit; it's called a split incentive."
What minimum standards are there for rentals?
When the federal government announced in 2023 to build 1.2 million homes by 2029, it also set out 'A Better Deal for Renters'.
It included developing a nationally consistent policy on no-grounds evictions, limiting rental increases to once a year and phasing in minimum quality standards for rental properties.
But two years on from the agreement at national cabinet, only Victoria and the ACT have put in place new minimum energy efficiency standards.
The new measures introduced in Victoria included new energy efficiency standards for ceiling insulation, draught proofing and cooling.
It also announced upgrades to heating, hot water and shower heads standards.
While the ACT has energy efficiency measures for ceiling insulation.
Leo Patterson Ross, from the National Association of Renters' Organisations, said there had not been a commitment on the time frame of implementing energy efficiency standards from other jurisdictions.
Leo Patterson Ross said the Commonwealth needed to monitor the progress of states and territories on energy efficency standards in rentals. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)
He added that there has been an increase in energy efficiency of new builds, but that represented a small proportion of the total housing stock.
"We are not making a big dent in the experience for renters in existing housing where we know that there are really poorly performing places,"he said.
"It is frustrating, particularly for those states that haven't progressed … there's a real question mark about how the Commonwealth is monitoring and encouraging states."
A spokesperson for the federal housing minister said that despite renting laws not being under the Commonwealth, it was working collaboratively with state and territory governments on the reforms set out in 'A Better Deal For Renters'.
"Whether that's through improving rental standards, improving the energy efficiency of new builds, or directly investing in energy upgrades to our social housing stock," a spokesperson said.
Governments could incentivise changes to rentals
According to Dr Fotheringham, governments could do more to incentivise investors to improve energy efficiency standards through tax concessions or other forms.
"We can also have triggers like when a new lease is signed, that there's an expectation that a property meets a certain energy efficiency standard," he said.
"Governments across the country have been somewhat hesitant to go too far down this path, but we're clearly seeing a widening gap between owner-occupied housing and rental accommodation."
It is a gap Ms Palumbo, the Adelaide resident, is all too aware of. She is preparing for her fifth summer at her rental property.
This year, she has decided to buy a second freezer to store meals for the months ahead.
"My kitchen becomes unusable during the summers; cooking is off the table,"she said.
"There's no ventilation screens for windows to air out … [I] batch cook meals prior to the summer so that we can eat properly."