Power Move: Fair and Affordable Electrification for Australian Households and Small Businesses is also calling for a National Electrification Roadmap, including a requirement for landlords to replace all gas appliances when they reach end of life with efficient, electric alternatives.
It calls on governments to set ambitious targets to ensure electrification of all new household and small commercial buildings by 2028, all existing social and community housing by 2035, all rental homes by 2040 and all homes by 2050.
Modelling in the report shows millions of Australia’s households and small businesses unable to leave the gas network will face soaring bills, highlighting the need for governments to urgently drive a national electrification plan.
“The sooner households and businesses start to go all-electric, the easier it will be,” Brian Spak, ECA General Manager, Advocacy and Policy, said.
“By starting now, people can replace their gas appliances when they reach end of life with electric alternatives.”
“If we wait much longer – or if we fail to help the most vulnerable households get off the gas network – the cost and difficulty will increase significantly. While the Middle East crisis has intensified the focus on global gas prices, this report identifies a pressing, long-term risk for the households and small businesses remaining on gas networks.”
“Every recent independent study – including the Commonwealth’s Future Gas Strategy – indicates that there’s unlikely to be much, if any, gas delivered to small consumers via the network in 2050. The transition off gas has countless benefits. All-electric homes and businesses will have cheaper and more predictable energy bills and be healthier places to live and work.”
“But going all electric comes with a catch: those consumers who are unable to or choose not to leave the gas network face soaring bills as networks seek to recover costs from a shrinking customer base. Those facing the greatest barriers to electrification – including renters, apartment dwellers, and low-income consumers – will be hit hardest.”
The report includes modelling which shows that, without intervention, the network component of household gas bills could more than quadruple by 2050, and total bill costs will escalate dramatically.
A typical household gas consumer in South Australia, for example, faces a 64% increase in their total gas bill in a decade’s time and a 265% increase by 2050.
The report recommends governments actively plan a fair and orderly exit from gas for households and small businesses.
Other recommendations include how Federal and state and territory governments can set a clear direction for consumer electrification, lower the cost of electrification and strategically decommission the gas network.
“Market bodies have reached the limits of their powers,” Mr Spak said.
“We need governments to urgently create an equitable exit from gas for households and small businesses and plan for how the costs of the transition will be managed fairly for all consumers.”
“Federal and state governments can ensure that the most vulnerable consumers are protected and that our economy thrives from the transition off gas by urgently working together on a national roadmap for household and small business electrification.”
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