Substantial financial benefit

Climate Safe Homes delivered upgrades worth a total of $928,657.

In addition to the Climate Safe Homes subsidy, households that had capacity made a co-contribution toward the cost of upgrades, with a total householder co-contribution of $181,476. Upgrades were fully funded for households experiencing severe persistent financial hardship.

For every $1 of householder co‑contribution, CSH leveraged an additional $4.12 from philanthropic and business partners, government grants and subsidies.

The importance of no-interest loans

Almost a quarter of participant co-contributed funds were made with no interest loans through Solar Victoria and the Good Shepherd. As Greer explains in the video below, she would have been unable to access solar without a no interest loan.

Bridging the financial gap

Climate Safe Homes aimed to match subsidy levels to the capacity and needs of each household. Subsidies ranged from $500 to $5,184 with a mean amount of $2,057 per upgrade.

People explained some of their financial barriers to upgrades in the following ways:

We could not afford to [get upgrades] – there was no heating or cooling in the home until we were accepted into this program.

Judith

As well as cost restraints, [I was] worried about dodgy suppliers.

Paul

Providing financial relief

Some 54 per cent of participants reported reduced energy bills and 52 per cent worried less about energy costs. Some 62 per cent of engagement partners (n=13) also reported their clients or patients experienced improved affordability of heating/cooling.

Facilitating energy bill savings

Solar upgrades yielded average annual energy bill savings of $1,000.