The Federal Member for Banks, David Coleman, was recently joined by the Minister for Energy, Angus Taylor, in Mortdale to visit local business Ace Gutters.
Ace Gutters manufactures and supplies rainwater products, roofing supplies and other plumbing goods from its head office in Mortdale, and has been operating for over 60 years.
Minister Taylor and Mr Coleman spoke with Ace Gutter’s owner, Mr Don Anderson, about how the Government is helping local business owners lower their electricity prices.
“The Government understands that a lot of local businesses and residents are doing it tough when it comes to paying their electricity bills,” Minister Taylor said.
“That’s why we’re investing over $2 billion on delivering affordable and reliable power for all Australians, as outlined in the recent Budget.”
“Ace Gutters is an important local business here in Mortdale,” Mr Coleman said. “It was great to be able to show Minister Taylor around and have a chat about some of the issues facing local businesses in our area.”
As outlined in the recent Budget, the Government is taking steps to reduce power bills and improve electricity security through a range of initiatives including:
- Investing $1.38 billion in Snowy 2.0 to support new renewable energy for Australia’s future energy mix to deliver affordable, reliable power,
- $365 million for Energy Assistance Payments to age and disability support pensioners, recipients of Carer Payment and Parenting Payment Single, and veterans and their dependants receiving eligible payments from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to help with energy bills – $75 for singles and $125 for couples,
- $79.2 million over six years for energy efficiency standards and programs to reduce costs for businesses, community groups and households,
- $50.4 million to support feasibility studies for micro-grids in remote and regional areas, including off-grid and ‘edge of electricity grid’ areas where local distributed generation and demand management is used to ensure supply, and
- $3.2 million to establish a Priority Transmission Taskforce which will speed up delivery of transmission projects identified in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s 20-year Integrated System Plan.