Small businesses can now apply for grants to help lower their power bills, with Federal Member for Wide Bay Llew O’Brien encouraging them to act fast before applications close.  

Up to $20,000 will be available to small businesses with an annual turnover of less than $10 million to upgrade equipment to reduce energy consumption, invest in monitoring systems to better manage energy use and conduct energy audits to investigate other opportunities for efficiency, through the Morrison Government’s $9 million Energy Efficient Communities Program. 

Mr O’Brien said the grants would help Wide Bay’s small businesses get the economy back on track as Australia responds to the impact of COVID-19.

“Wide Bay’s small and family-run businesses are the lifeblood of our community and the backbone of the Australian economy, so this support to help them unlock savings on their power bills will help protect local livelihoods and local jobs,” Mr O’Brien said.

Applications are open now and close on August 26.

To ensure an equitable distribution of funding across Australia, up to three grants per electorate will be awarded to eligible small businesses.

“As small businesses work towards recovery from the challenges of COVID-19, we want to help them lower their power bills so they can invest on more important aspects of their business.

“These grants build on other Government policies like retail price caps that are already delivering lower energy costs for small business owners.”

The Energy Efficient Communities Program was announced as part of the Government’s Climate Solutions Package in the 2019 Federal Budget.

The program will deliver grants to help businesses and community organisations to improve energy efficiency practices and technologies, and better manage energy consumption to reduce their power bills. 

Small business owners who wish to apply for a grant can access the guidelines and application forms at business.gov.au, or by telephone on 13 28 46.

The Government is also offering free advice to help small businesses and their representatives get better energy deals and increase their energy efficiency through the Business Energy Advice Program (BEAP).

Further information on BEAP and the Energy Efficient Communities Program is available at energy.gov.au.