P. S. Clark  BSc  BEcon  Grad Dip Erg	

Dr Neil Byron
Presiding Commissioner
Productivity Commission
Locked Bag 2
Collins Street East
MELBOURNE 8003

ENERGY EFFICIENCY INQUIRY
SUBMISSION

Dear Dr Byron
Please accept the following brief submission, which has been assembled in some haste as I have only just been made aware of your inquiry into this important topic.  

If you or your officers would like clarification or further information on the following or other issues, please do not hesitate to contact me at the Townsville address noted above or by email.

Yours faithfully
Philip S. Clark

BACKGROUND
Although now retired, my earlier responsibilities included managing energy utilization and expense for my Australian multinational group employer – electric power, gas and compressed air.  The group comprised more than 100 operations around the world, each individually responsible for managing their own energy utilization and expense. 

Centralized reporting of energy use and expense enabled focus and effective remedial action on identified gas and electric power energy inefficiencies, and enhanced the energy management information available to individual operations.

Recognising key deficiencies in supply authorities’ metering and provision of tariff and technological information, I developed (with JME Computers P/L) advanced computer-based metering systems which wereghtYour recommendation for prior cost-benefit evaluation of options before adopting or mandating specific metering changes is agreed, albeit with some reservations resulting from deficient quality and quality control of past ‘enthusiastic’ RIS documentation.

Differential tariffs with time of day electrical metering for all customers using more than an identified amount of power, together with development of improved ‘smart’ metering technology beyond the presently-available units, to include (at least) multiple ‘ripple signal’ adjustment of tariff rates in response to known and published peak system loading levels.

Although there does not appear to have been any significant evidence presented to your inquiry about reasons for ‘interruptible level’ peak electrical system loads, it is presumed that these relate to maximal air-conditioning loads associated with episodes of extremely high ambient temperatures.  It seems appropriate to consider whether something similar to the Victorian ‘day of total fire ban’ media advertising should be adopted to advise end users and inter alia request appropriate action, such as increasing personal comfort air conditioning control temperatures during the predicted periods.  At the least, this would enhance the limited public information on and understanding of peak load issues.

Smart meter technology should also enable application of published ‘interruptible peak demand’ tariffs during these periods.