Post‑implementation Review – Department of the Environment
On 1 December 2007, the then Government committed to expand the Renewable Energy Target to 45,000 GWh by 2020. The changes aimed to have the equivalent of at least 20 per cent of Australia’s electricity supply generated from renewable sources by 2020. The proposal was assessed as likely to have a significant regulatory impact on the economy; however a compliant RIS was not prepared to accompany the decision. As such, the Department of the Environment was required to prepare a post-implementation review (PIR) within two years of implementation. The proposal was implemented in December 2010. A PIR was completed by the Department of the Environment in July 2015 and was assessed as compliant by the Office of Best Practice Regulation. The Government’s Review of the Renewable Energy Target scheme (the Warburton Review) informed several sections of the PIR. The PIR found that the policy has met its intended objectives to encourage the additional generation of electricity from renewable sources and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases in the electricity sector. However, the PIR concluded that the scheme should be amended given that declining electricity market demand has reduced the need for significant further investment in large-scale generation. The Department of the Environment estimated that the average annual regulatory cost of the policy over the ten‑year period from the beginning of 2010 to be approximately $1.66 billion. This estimate has been agreed with the OBPR.