Presenting the bill in the House of Representatives, parliamentary secretary Warren Entsch said the new energy efficiency measures could boost Australia's economy and lower the rate of growth in greenhouse emissions.

"Improved energy efficiency reduces overall demand for energy and will also delay the need for new energy generation equipment," he told the House.

"Energy efficiency opportunities could deliver as much as A$975 million even if only half of them were taken up."

The new laws will be targeted at businesses that use more than half a petajoule of energy each year.

Half a petajoule is equivalent to the electricity needs of 10,000 Australian households and costs more than A$5 million.

"From 2006, if a business uses over 0.5 petajoules in a year within its corporate group, it will be required to register under the program," Entsch said.

"Once registered, it will have to prepare an assessment plan that spells out how it is going to assess the various parts of its business over the five-year program cycle."

Debate on the bill was adjourned.