Greens SA plan to ban gas connection for new homes, following Victoria and New York
New York City is doing it, and the Vics too, now SA MPs are being called on to back a ban on gas to new homes. Vote in our poll.
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Gas connections to new homes would be banned from 2025, following the lead of Victoria and New York, under plans being put forward by the SA Greens.
Victoria’s new “Gas Substitution Roadmap” has removed the requirement for all new homes in that state to be connected to gas and repealed incentives to install gas hot water systems.
New York has gone further, banning gas in all new builds from 2023, with all newly constructed residential and commercial buildings to be fully electric by 2027. There will be limited exemptions for certain uses, such as commercial kitchens and emergency or standby power.
The rationale is a combination of cost savings for consumers, emissions reductions to mitigate climate change, and avoiding health concerns from indoor air pollution.
Greens Energy spokesman Robert Simms plans to introduce a Private Members Bill to ban gas connections to new homes from 2025, when state parliament resumes in September.
“It’s time for South Australia to join the global movement away from gas,” he said, pointing to gas-free policies introduced in the Netherlands, Norway and New York City.
“Gas not only comes at a high cost to the consumer, it comes at a high cost to our environment. It’s also bad for community health and has been linked to increased risk of asthma in children.”
Mr Simms also called for the government to provide rebates to support homeowners and renters to replace old gas appliances with new energy-efficient, electric ones.
The Grattan Institute found that running a new all-electric Adelaide house would save up to $2183 over 10 years, compared with gas cooking and hot water.
The institute said the saving would climb to $5556 over 10 years if electricity was used in place of gas for cooking, hot water and space heating.
Gas connection to new properties is not mandatory in South Australia, but many developers make it compulsory in new builds.
Legislation to address this issue and provide consumer choice was first introduced to parliament by former Greens MLC Mark Parnell in 2018, but it did not pass.
In May, Mr Simms again tried but the new Labor government wanted to pursue extensive public consultation before agreeing to the changes.
He said he decided to push for a gas ban instead.
“The State Government currently has no plans to ban new gas connections,” a spokeswoman said.
“Under a Labor Government, South Australia became a world leader in the renewable energy transition. To complement our leadership in renewables and continue our energy transition to a low carbon economy, we are continuing to progress our $593m Hydrogen Jobs Plan.”
An Opposition spokesman simply said: “The proposal will be considered at a Joint Party meeting in due course.”
Victoria’s new “Gas Substitution Roadmap” removed the requirement for all new homes to be connected to gas.
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