Energy Concessions

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:19): My question is to the Minister for Human Services regarding reducing cost-of-living pressures for low income households. Can the minister please provide an update to the council about how the Marshall Liberal government is cutting energy costs for low income South Australian households?

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK (Minister for Human Services) (15:20): I thank the honourable member for her question—

The Hon. K.J. Maher interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Leader of the Opposition is out of order.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: —and for her interest in these important matters. The Department of Human Services has a number of programs that assist people on lower incomes, including cost-of-living concessions. We also have a South Australian—

The Hon. K.J. Maher: Labor.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: No, that's not true, actually. Anyway, you can continue to delude yourself.

The PRESIDENT: Conversations are out of order. The minister will continue.

The Hon. J.M.A. LENSINK: I am sorry, Mr President. There is a South Australian Concessions Energy Discount Offer, which was a Labor initiative—I will give them credit where credit is due. The original SACEDO offer was, I think, in the order of an 18 per cent discount for concession recipients from their electricity bill. That was increased in April 2019 to 20 per cent. We have renegotiated that agreement through the South Australian Concessions Energy Discount Offer to 21 per cent for our concession customers, and that has been a great thing.

In May 2018, Origin introduced a further special offer for this group of customers for an 11 per cent discount on natural gas supply and usage, which has the same unconditional benefits as the South Australian Concessions Energy Discount Offer, which is a very good program because it provides for people to have things like not being penalised if they don't pay on time and a range of things. It is very important for people who are on low incomes to be able to use that in that way, and we understand that some other energy retail providers have matched that, so that offer is being passed onto a broader number of consumers.

We have recently released a new pilot, which is also targeted at concession card holders, that will enable people who are in particular suburbs to utilise the cost-of-living concession payment over a period of 10 years to switch to a solar pilot program. We are targeting 1,000 eligible South Australian households. It's a $4.25 million program, which we have just released.

The particular locations have been determined, I think, utilising network to determine network capacity. The suburbs for this pilot include Hope Valley, Banksia Park, Tea Tree Gully, Vista, Modbury, Modbury Heights, Modbury North, Felixstow, Campbelltown, Newton, Paradise, Athelstone, Dernancourt, Holden Hill, Highbury, Redwood Park, Ridgehaven, and Goolwa and surrounds, including Hindmarsh Island.

In addition, the hard work of the very assiduous Minister for Energy and Mining, the Hon. Dan van Holst Pellekaan, has ensured that the average household in South Australia is now saving I think it is $262 per annum from their energy bills. This program applies to all South Australians, which means that we are well on track for our election commitment to achieve $302 for the average household in South Australia.