No matter what your budget is, you can make changes in your home (owners and renters) to improve your energy management to save money and act on climate change. This Energy Smart Homes page includes workshop recordings and information on:
- Understanding your energy bills and monitoring your energy use
- Latest government rebates and incentives to access funding to upgrade your home
- Using clean green energy options
- How to reduce your home energy without spending a cent
- LOW-MED cost upgrades to your home to save energy and money
- Solar and battery for your home
- How our little changes at home can make big action on climate change
Government Rebates & Incentives
There are some great government rebates and incentives to help households reduce their energy and save money. These range from comparing energy providers to get a better rate, energy upgrades like LED lighting or more efficient heating and cooling and solar.
The $250 Power Saving Bonus
The $250 Power Saving Bonus for Victorian households is now open. This is a one-off $250 payment for Victorian households to help ease cost-of-living pressures and encourage households to compare energy offers and save money!
The Bonus is available to all Victorians households who visit the Victorian Energy Compare website: Victorian Energy Compare
Or engage with an energy affordability service through one of the participating community outreach partners: $250 Power Saving Bonus for Victorian households – Community Outreach Program
Solar Victoria - Solar Homes Program
Solar Victoria delivers the Victorian Government’s Solar Homes Program. Under this program eligible Victorians can apply for a rebate to install solar panels (PV) for their home or rental property, with the option of an interest-free loan. They can also access rebates for solar hot water and solar batteries.
By transitioning to solar, Victorians can take control of their electricity bills, tackle climate change and build a clean and reliable energy future.
Find out more and check your eligibility here: Solar Homes Program | Solar Victoria
Victorian Energy Upgrade Program
Upgrading from inefficient appliances can help Victorian’s cope with cold weather in winter and warm summer temperatures. It is also an ideal way to take control of your energy bills. On average, households can save $110 a year on energy bills.
The Victorian Energy Upgrades program helps Victorians cut power bills and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by giving households access to discounted energy-efficient products and services.
To find out more : Victorian Energy Upgrades - Households
Energy Smart Homes Workshop Recordings
During May and June 2021, we ran workshops and provided information on the latest government grants and incentives to support households in reducing their energy use and saving money.
We uploaded all the workshop recordings so Wyndham residents can take part at any time.
Understanding your Energy Bills, Rebates and Monitoring
This session will help you to understand your energy bill and explore your options of reducing costs with rebates and monitoring.
Reducing your energy use without spending a cent!
Jo Taranto of Good from the Hood unpacks simple steps to reduce your household energy use without spending a cent!
Low to Medium costs upgrades to reduce your energy and save money!
In this session you’ll learn about what you can do to improve the efficiency of your home to improve comfort and get better value from your lighting, heating, and other appliances.
Solar & Battery for your home
Learn how solar & battery enables you to cut the cost of your bills by generating your own electricity.
My Smart Garden - Keep Your Cool with trees and vines
Wyndham City is a participating Council of My Smart Garden, a free sustainable gardening program that helps you get started growing food and transforming your outdoor space into a beautiful functional garden.
They can help you become more resilient and lower your bills by producing food and shading your home from summer heat and Turing waste into valuable resources.
This video provides advice to cool your home and garden with vines and trees.
We can all be part of the solution on climate change!
Our climate is changing and with this change comes a whole raft of challenges for our natural environment and current way of life. A large contributor to this is the energy demands of our modern society. We all make up the demand and it is up to us to reduce it, starting at our homes where we spend a lot of time and have the most control.
Together we can fight climate change and improve the world for everyone.
Visit the Climate Council to understand what climate change is and how you can make a difference.
More information
- Watch ABC’s Fight For Planet A: Our Climate Challenge
- Watch 2040 (available on Netflix)
- Your Home is your guide to creating a comfortable home with low impact on the environment – economical to run, healthier to live in and adaptable to your changing needs.
- Sustainability Victoria for solar and home sustainability advice.
- Be a Sustainable Business – information for businesses and employees to take sustainable action.
- State of Environment Report Council and Community actions undertaken to protect. and enhance the natural environment and improve sustainability in Wyndham.
- NASA for global warming trends.
- BOM for the latest climate trends.
- Climate Council for climate change communications and advice about climate change.
- ABCs pocket guide to climate change - The first step to being able to speak about climate change is to understand it.
- CSIRO for national climate science and research.
- Australian Psychological Society for information on how to talk to children about climate change.
- The Green Energy Guide by GREENPEACE with information on how to switch to greener electricity providers.