Armed with consultants' reports, Victoria's Government proposes that all new houses incorporate additional $2000 costs to use less electricity and water.
Under the Plumbing (Water and Energy Savings) Regulations 2004, people buying new houses will be hit by two new regulations. First, they must install low pressure water valves. In addition, they have a choice of installing a 2000 litre rainwater tank or a solar heating system.
Low water pressure valves reduce the efficiency of showers, washing machines, and dishwashers. Disarmingly, the government and their consultants say this will leave people no worse off. That's like telling a VB drinker he'd be no worse off if forced to drink low alcohol beer!
A water tank with each new dwelling brings $1 billion of claimed benefits in avoided costs of building a new dam. Hopefully this only means deferring such expenditure. For, no matter how many bizarre proposals Environment Minister Thwaites dreams up for re-using household waste water, Melbournians surly won't tolerate permanent water restrictions and mounting regulatory costs for water. With an extra million people over the next 25 years the need for additional supplies is pressing.
The proposed water storage tank for each new house would mean an outlay of $1895. This would save only $11 per year and won't contribute in a drought. Even the government's chosen consultants couldn't endorse it.
State-wide, it involves a $70 million annual charge on new homeowners, which would actually pay for a new dam in 14 years. Having everyone pay a fair share of a new dam that maintains the water supply quality is surely preferable to providing an inferior service that loads all the costs and inconvenience onto new home buyers.
The new home buyers' alternative regulatory choice, solar heating, involves an up-front outlay of $2000. This is for an unreliable energy supply that costs three times as much as conventionally generated electricity.
These proposals are a cruel blow to those looking to buy their first home. And they will aggravate the building industry downturn, where a reported 90 per cent of new dwellings sold over the last year have already lost value.
The government's consultants claim that the proposed measures will bring economic benefits. They argue more jobs will be created as labour intensive solar heating and water tank manufacturing replaces capital intensive power stations and dams. If solving unemployment was that easy, we could replace our aluminium and steel industries and broad acre agriculture with basket weaving and organic farming!
They also claim the regulations would improve the income of those incurring the costs. Apparently though, the new home buyer does not have the wisdom to take these decisions for themselves.
As existing home owners, the sponsors of these regulations -- politicians, public servants and consultants -- are insulated from the expenses they are foisting onto the new home owner. Yet, it is only reasonable that well-intentioned people reach for their own wallets as well as the wallets of others. At least that would give us confidence that politicians and their hirelings actually believe what they say.
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