Here are the 4 facts about the renewable energy target:

Australian households will save hundreds of dollars on their power bills:

Australian households will pay over $50 more for electricity in 2020 if the RET is dumped, and beyond 2020 household bills would be up to $140 more per year.

This is because fewer renewables mean more gas, which is set to triple in price this decade. Meanwhile, renewable energy will continue to get cheaper as technology improves and we build more of it.

In total, Australian households will pay $510 million more for power in 2020 if the RET is dumped, and up to $1.4 billion more per year beyond 2020.

Dumping the RET will mean fewer renewables and less competition in the energy market – and as in any market from cars to bananas, less competition means higher prices.

It generates investment in Australian industry:

The RET will generate $14.5 billion of investment in large-scale renewable energy projects by 2020 and billions of dollars more in household renewable energy systems if left unchanged. This is in addition to the $20 billion of investment the RET has already generated.

If the RET is scrapped, most of that investment in clean energy just won’t happen.

It creates thousands of Australian jobs:

More than 24,000 Australians were employed in the renewable energy sector in 2012, proving that the jobs of the future are here today.

And, the RET is set to generate 18,400 jobs by 2020 if retained in its current form. That’s 9700 jobs in large-scale renewables like wind and bioenergy and 8700 jobs in household renewable energy such as solar power and solar hot water.

If the RET is dumped, Australia will miss out on the majority of these jobs.

Removing it will cost a lot more money than it saves:

Removing the Renewable Energy Target would have the effect of actually increasing electricity bills by $50 in 2020. In addition, it would cause the loss of tens of thousands of Australian jobs and billions of dollars of investment.

Abolishing the Renewable Energy Target will also make it harder and more expensive for Australia to meet its international commitment of reducing carbon emissions by five per cent on 2000 levels by 2020.

For more information visit the Clean Energy Council website.