‘No time to waste’: Urgent leadership required as Aussie households warned about gas
Urgent leadership is required to help households wean off this much-loved item or else the nation faces a hefty bill in the years to come.
Environment
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A coalition of crossbenchers is set to pile the pressure on federal and state governments to accelerate plans to switch off households from gas, warning not doing so could risk the nation’s climate targets.
The grouping of independents met at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday to hear from energy policy experts about how the country could wean households off the fossil fuel.
Independent MP Allegra Spender said Labor must act to set out a clear road map for ending residential gas use across the country.
“All-electric homes are cheaper to run, better for our health and essential to reaching net zero. The transition will take time, so we need to start with new homes not installing gas connections that will become obsolete,” she said.
“We need the government to show courage, ambition, and leadership – and make the tough choices that are necessary to seize Australia’s $300bn electrification opportunity.”
She said over the next decade, households would need to upgrade or replace 4.5 million gas water heaters, five million gas stoves, and 2.7 million heating systems.
“There is no time to waste,” Ms Spender said.
The grouping said households, particularly those who were renting or on lower incomes, would need support to help overcome the financial regulatory and informational barriers to electrification.
Labor’s last budget committed $1bn for households to access low-interest loans to make their homes more energy efficient. But Ms Spender warned it was less than 10 per cent of the support needed, according to Rewiring Australia.
New modelling from the Grattan Institute showed tens of thousands of new homes are still being hooked up to gas every year.
The report urged state and federal governments to set a date for “the end of gas” if Australia had any hope of reaching its 2050 net-zero deadline.
The federal government has promised to cut Australia’s emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, with a goal of reaching net zero by 2050.
But more than five million households remain on the gas network, the think tank said. It amounts to 17 per cent of the fossil fuel that is consumed each year.
Rewiring Australia co-founder Dan Cass said electrification was an initiative the entire parliament should get behind.
“Electrification permanently reduces the cost of living, baking in savings for households,” he said.
The Grattan Institute's report revealed the number of residential gas customers in NSW and the ACT had grown by 37 per cent and in Victoria by 22 per cent since 2010.
The ACT is the only state or territory to have banned new gas connections.
By switching from gas to electric, Grattan said an average household could save between $12,000 and $14,000 over 10 years in Melbourne.
Meanwhile, an average Sydney household could save up to $7000.
Grattan Institute's climate change and energy deputy program director Alison Reeve said further delays would only make the transition more difficult.
“Upgrading to electricity will be complex for governments and for many people and businesses – but it is absolutely doable,” she said.
Originally published as ‘No time to waste’: Urgent leadership required as Aussie households warned about gas
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