In November 2020, the Victorian Government committed $112million to the EESHP, which aimed to improve the energy efficiency of 35,000existing social housing properties throughout Victoria. The program aimed to:
- reduce energy bills of social housing renters, including gas bills, by supporting fuel shifting to electric appliances
- improve thermal comfort of homes and associated health and wellbeing benefits
- improve household resilience to climate change, and
- reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Johnstaff was engaged to conduct an evaluation of Phase 1 of the EESHP, including an assessment of the program outcomes. As part of the evaluation, Johnstaff (and its subconsultants):
- Surveyed approximately 1,300 tenants across two distinct cohorts to understand the impact of the updates during both summer and winter, including consideration of self-reported health and wellbeing data
- Employed heating/cooling models to estimate annual savings in energyconsumption, operating costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and
- Consulted with social housing tenants, public and privatestakeholders to assess the delivery performance and outcomes of the program.
Johnstaff evaluated the outcomes of the EESHP against key performance metrics developed and agreed with Homes Victoria. The evaluation also included a consolidated ‘lessons learnt’ exercise with a view to guiding and improving the delivery of future, similar programs.
