Business Recovery

A num­ber of incen­tives are now in place to help the North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry through the coro­n­avirus cri­sis, as well as pro­mote the long-term sus­tain­abil­i­ty of the Alice Springs pow­er sys­tem, through the uptake of house­hold bat­tery systems. 

More infor­ma­tion about the new Home and Busi­ness Bat­tery Scheme is avail­able here: https://​nt​.gov​.au/​i​n​d​u​s​t​r​y​/​s​t​a​r​t​-​r​u​n​-​a​n​d​-​g​r​o​w​-​a​-​b​u​s​i​n​e​s​s​/​g​r​o​w​-​y​o​u​r​-​b​u​s​i​n​e​s​s​/​b​u​s​i​n​e​s​s​-​g​r​a​n​t​s​-​a​n​d​-​f​u​n​d​i​n​g​/​h​o​m​e​-​a​n​d​-​b​u​s​i​n​e​s​s​-​b​a​t​t​e​r​y​-​s​cheme

Appli­ca­tions for works sup­port­ed by the Home Improve­ment Scheme have now closed, but there is still plen­ty you can do to improve the ener­gy effi­cien­cy of your home. Read on!

Con­sid­er ener­gy effi­cien­cy while you help the NT econ­o­my recover

The North­ern Ter­ri­to­ry Government’s Jobs Res­cue and Recov­ery plan encom­pass­es a series of mea­sures to help Ter­ri­to­ri­ans and local busi­ness­es cope with the impact of covid-19. 

The plan was first announced on March 19, and has been updat­ed a num­ber of times since. 

Intyal­heme has joined forces with the Arid Lands Envi­ron­ment Cen­tre (ALEC) to help you make best use of the plan to low­er your pow­er bills, make your house more com­fort­able, and get head on the jour­ney towards a renew­able ener­gy future. ALEC has more resources HERE. 

The Home Improve­ment Scheme pro­motes phys­i­cal improve­ments to land or build­ings, and can also sup­port repairs and main­te­nance. Under this scheme, home­own­ers might like to con­sid­er works to improve ener­gy effi­cien­cy or install new technologies. 

Oth­er parts of the government’s plan include a Busi­ness Improve­ment Grant, and an Imme­di­ate Work Grant, which also cov­er phys­i­cal improve­ments for busi­ness­es and organisations. 

Solar PV excluded

Buy­ing solar pho­to­volta­ic (PV) pan­els or installing solar pan­els, e.g. rooftop solar are exclud­ed works. This is the case for all three pro­grams; the Home Improve­ment Scheme, Busi­ness Improve­ment Grant and Imme­di­ate Work Grants. (Update 5/4/20 — invert­er and bat­tery works were car­ried into the new HBBS, which also sup­ports the instal­la­tion of solar PV with accom­pa­ny­ing batteries)

Eli­gi­ble works include:

• installing or repair­ing an air-con­di­tion­ing unit
• paint­ing your house
• pool repairs
• fenc­ing repairs
• installing or repair­ing a retic­u­la­tion system
• upgrad­ing ceil­ing fans or lighting
• installing a solar hot water system
• oth­er elec­tri­cal work that sup­port ener­gy efficiency.

Con­duct your own ener­gy effi­cien­cy audit

If you’re find­ing your­self with more free time at home, why not con­duct your own ener­gy effi­cien­cy audit? Here are some oth­er ener­gy-effi­cien­cy improve­ments you could consider:

• Shade sun­ny win­dows with blinds or curtains
• New shade sails or oth­er shade structures
• Paint your roof white 
• Install LED lighting
• Install insu­la­tion into the ceil­ing, walls, or even the floor
  
• Install dou­ble glaz­ing or tint your windows

Ener­gy effi­cien­cy tips

Here are some tips from our friends at COOL­mob

• Use a fan before an air conditioner
• In sum­mer set your air con­di­tion­er to 23C or higher
• In win­ter set your tem­per­a­ture to 18C or lower
• Clean your air con­di­tion­ing sys­tem twice a year
• Close blinds and cur­tains when you leave the house
• Turn off lights, fans, air con­di­tion­ing when you leave
• Install a water-sav­ing showerhead
• Keep show­ers under five minutes
• Wash clothes on cold set­ting with a full load
• Use low ener­gy light globes
• Pur­chase a swim­ming pool cover
• Get a vari­able speed pool pump
• Replace your old fridge or freez­er with an ener­gy-effi­cient model
• Replace per­ished freez­er seals
• Install motion sen­sors on exter­nal lighting