Ballarat council makes energy upgrades to save ratepayers millions

Ballarat City Council had a choice: spend money on carbon offsets costing “hundreds of thousands of dollars” or invest it in projects that cut emissions and save ratepayers.

It chose the second option, and in one project helped to shave $480,000 a year off the city’s gas bill.

What happened: Ballarat City Council has scrapped its fixed carbon-neutral target and committed to a new emissions plan focused on projects that deliver real-world cuts and savings.

• The Corporate Emissions Plan, adopted at July’s council meeting, will prioritise upgrades including replacing gas use with electric alternatives, improving energy efficiency in council buildings, upgrading LED streetlights and capturing landfill gas.

• The new plan replaces the council's previous target of becoming carbon neutral by 2025.

Big savings: A heat pump installed at the Ballarat Aquatic and Lifestyle Centre is expected to save about $480,000 a year in gas costs, while the city's completed LED streetlight upgrade is tipped to save around $22.3 million over 20 years and avoid more than 50,000 tonnes of emissions.

• Solar capacity across council facilities has also nearly tripled since 2019, with 17 sites now generating an estimated 800 megawatt hours of electricity each year and potentially saving more than $200,000 annually.

What they said: Infrastructure and environment director Bridget Wetherall told the Brolga offsetting the city’s emissions would have cost “hundreds of thousands dollars every year”, as carbon offsets differ in quality and availability. 

🗣️ “Although available, high-quality carbon offsets are limited and may expose council to increasing costs,” she said. 

Local leader weighs in: Chief executive of local business leadership group Committee for Ballarat, Michael Poulton, said although the committee supported the council’s continued efforts to reduce their carbon, maintaining an ambitious target was important to keep as a tangible goal.

• Poulton said while purchasing offsets can be effective, localised projects that feature generation, storage and distribution offer a better solution with real benefits for the city.

Quick catch up

What does carbon neutrality mean? Carbon neutrality means producing no greenhouse gases by reducing emissions as much as possible and balancing any remaining emissions with activities that remove or offset them.

What's a carbon offset? Carbon offsets are credits organisations can buy to balance out the emissions they can't eliminate themselves.

How does this benefit ratepayers? Wetherall said investing in upgrades across Ballarat that support bringing down greenhouse gases can help the council save money long-term.

🗣️ “This can occur through reduced energy costs, increased resource recovery and revenue generation, as well as improved thermal comfort and indoor air quality in City of Ballarat buildings and facilities,” she said.

Making changes: The council reduced its operational emissions from almost 39,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent in 2019 to just over 22,000 tonnes in 2025 - a reduction of more than 40 percent.

• The cuts came through projects using landfill gas capture, renewable electricity, energy efficiency upgrades and transitioning its fleet to electric vehicles.

• Mayor Tracey Hargreaves said the updated format of an annual review meant councillors would “commit to doing the work every single year [rather] than commit to a number and hope”.

Seeing is believing: Poulton said focusing on achieving more tangible emissions was one way to keep council accountable. 

🗣️ “Whilst we need annual reporting and review, this can exist with ambitious and public emissions targets,” he said. 

 🗣️ “Offsets are a mechanism available, and so too are very practical measures that seek to reduce demand and more efficiently the renewable generation assets we have.”