Victoria gazettes gas rebate ban, as industry warns it will cost jobs and hit poor
The gas industry says ‘forcing households to cook with coal’ will not bring down carbon dioxide emissions.
The Victorian government has quietly gazetted a ban on gas distribution companies providing households and small businesses with discounts on gas appliances, in a move the gas industry says will cost jobs and disproportionately hit poorer families.
The Australian reported in November that the state government was considering the move, after it gave the gas appliance industry less than a fortnight to consult on the plans, with many key stakeholders not even made aware of them.
On Thursday, Energy Minister Lily D’Ambrosio gazetted the change, giving the industry and consumers 60 days to adapt before it becomes law.
Gas Appliance Manufacturers Association of Australia president Ross Jamieson said Ms D’Ambrosio had “suddenly enacted” the new restrictions with “no consultation” with an industry that employs 4000 people, accusing her of a “cynical move” to “minimise scrutiny”.
“The new restrictions now make it an offence for the gas distribution businesses to support low-income households at a time they are struggling with energy costs. These households and small businesses are going to pay the price for the government’s failure to ensure there is an adequate gas supply for the state.
Mr Jamieson said the decision represented a “further ideological attack against gas” – after the government banned gas connections to new homes from January 1 – and would do nothing to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, given only 2.3 per cent of Australia’s overall emissions come from the use of gas in homes and small businesses.
“In a state still dependent on brown coal for the bulk of its power generation, it makes little sense to focus on residential and small business gas use, or to force Victorians to use electric appliances … powered by coal,” Mr Jamieson said.
Australian Pipelines & Gas Association chief Steve Davies said the state government was making Victorians pay more for essential appliances during a cost-of-living crisis. “Victoria’s brown coal emissions are surging upwards, and forcing households to cook with coal won’t only increase emissions but also the threat of more blackouts,” Mr Davies said, citing gas industry data showing that the decision would disproportionately impact low income and regional Victorians, who have higher take-up rates for the rebates.
Opposition energy spokesman David Davis described the rebate ban as an “act of bastardry … Why block a rebate paid for by the manufacturer when most of the manufacturers of gas appliances are Australian-based. They will be actively discriminated against in favour of importers of overseas electricity appliances as consumers pay more.”
A Victorian government spokeswoman said: “We know the cost of gas is rising and supply is dwindling – that’s why we’ve brought an end to the gas industry offering inducements to vulnerable Victorians to install costly gas appliances, needlessly locking them into years of higher bills.”
Meanwhile, the mayor for the northern Victorian municipality of Campaspe, Tony Amos, used his speech welcoming Victoria’s upper house to Echuca for a remote parliamentary sitting on Thursday to urge the state government to consider alternative sites for the proposed Cooba solar farm, which is planned for the Heathcote wine region.
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