Victoria is banning gas connections in new homes from 2024.
The Victorian Government announced on Friday that, from 1 January 2024, new residential buildings requiring a planning permit will only connect to the electricity network. This is a significant step and there are plenty of reasons to celebrate - here are a few of them:
1 - Less childhood asthma
An immediate and significant reduction in the number of kids being exposed to the harmful byproducts of gas use is a pretty good reason to celebrate on its own. According to Asthma Australia “the combustion of gas during cooking and heating produces a variety of air pollutants including fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and formaldehyde, worsening indoor air quality. Exposure to these pollutants can trigger asthma flare-ups and contribute to the development of asthma.
Cooking with gas is estimated to be responsible for up to 12% of the childhood asthma burden in Australia, which is comparable to the risk of tobacco smoke exposure in the home.” (1)
2 - Lower energy bills
New homes installing electric appliances upfront will benefit from substantially lower energy bills. This includes avoiding both increasing gas consumption costs, as well as eliminating a supply charge of approximately $1 per day just to have a gas connection.
Where existing homes already have gas appliances that need to be replaced with new electric appliances, this investment pays back over time (particularly when a home has rooftop solar supplying free energy from the sun). The Grattan Institute estimates that a typical Victorian household could save up to $13,900 over 10 years, even when accounting for the upfront costs of new electric appliances (2).
Rewiring Australia estimates these annual savings as being even higher when accounting for the update of EVs, projecting annual savings of over $5,000 per year in 2030 for an all-electric household (3).
3 - Less greenhouse gas pollution
The rapidly decarbonising national electricity grid means the removal of gas use in new Victorian homes will offer substantial and increasing greenhouse gas emission reductions over the coming years. Gas production and usage accounts for around 18% of Victoria’s annual greenhouse gas emissions (2).
Rewiring Australia estimates that a fully electric household can avoid 11 tonnes of greenhouse gas pollution per year (3). Given the disturbing number of climate records being broken this year, this couldn’t come at a more critical moment.
4 - Increasing resilience in our energy system (really!)
Many in the gas industry (and their cheerleaders) claim that having ‘dual fuel’ households provides for ‘backup’ to make our energy system more resilient. But the inverse is actually true - our rapidly decarbonising electricity market is diversifying its generation source at an astonishing rate, which will bring far greater resilience over time. Distributed rooftop solar is now in aggregate one of the largest generators of electricity in the country, meaning we’re rapidly reducing the risk of relying on large fossil fuel power stations.
Electric vehicles are effectively batteries on wheels, heat pump hot water systems offer added value by acting as thermal storage for excess solar generation, and smart, efficient all-electric homes can play a significant part in balancing supply and demand across the network through basic scheduling and optimisation. And this is before accounting for the enormous costs of building and maintaining thousands of kilometres of gas distribution infrastructure.
5 - Industry development and jobs
It’s vital to acknowledge that any technological shift in an industry creates challenges for some parts of that industry. Transition support for the small businesses and tradespeople who have traditionally focused on residential gas appliances is essential. These businesses and workers should be encouraged and incentivised to reorient and help capture the significant economic development and employment opportunities associated with home electrification. Opportunities for local manufacturing, installation and maintenance businesses are significant, and all levels of government should support this.
Burning fossil fuels inside or next to our homes will seem like a strange historical anomaly before long. Goodbye Gas is excited to be headquartered in a state that has recognised the importance of the transition to healthy, efficient all-electric homes and made a big step towards this future.
Peter Steele
Director
References:
(1) - 2023 Asthma Australia, 'New report goes inside Australian homes to reveal the extent mould, gas cooktops, pests and heating are impacting people's health'
(2) - 2023 Grattan Institute, Getting off gas: why, how, and who should pay?
(3) - 2022 Rewiring Australia, Castles and Cars
