The Victorian Government today announced a raft of measures under consideration to move Victoria away from polluting, greenhouse gas intensive and expensive fossil gas in the release of the draft Building Electrification Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS).
The RIS contains a suite of sensible policy options to replace old gas heaters and hot water systems at the end of their lives with efficient electric alternatives. While not including gas cooking appliances, the full implementation of this plan will reduce gas use in the average Victorian household by as much as 98%.
The options under consideration in the RIS are:
- Electrification of all new residential and new commercial buildings
- Electrification of all new and existing residential buildings and all new and existing commercial buildings, excluding existing commercial kitchens
- Electrification of all new and existing residential buildings (excluding existing residential cooking) and all new commercial buildings – this is the Government’s preferred option, and
- Electrification of all new and existing residential buildings
No More Gas campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth, Freja Leonard, described the announcement as a sensible next step for Victoria to move forward with its commitment to achieve net zero emissions by 2045, and prepare to safeguard the state from forecast gas shortfalls by the winter peak of 2026.
“The Building Electrification RIS recognises that there is no place for gas in a clean energy future for Victoria”, said Ms Leonard. “Methane gas is polluting in the home, up to 84 times more damaging to the climate over a 20 year period than carbon dioxide, and driving up home energy bills in a cost of living crisis. Many of the options under consideration are included as recommendations in our reports ‘The ‘ and ‘‘, so of course we back these reforms.”
“We will be calling on the Government to implement the full electrification of all new and existing residential buildings in acknowledgement that burning fossil gas for cooking is inefficient and increases asthma and other respiratory illness risk by as .”
“The sooner we completely replace methane gas appliances with all-electric options the sooner we can finally retire the expensive-to-maintain gas mains system which currently leaks between 3-3.5% of this potent climate change accelerant into the open air. And that’s not including the gas leaked behind the meter on people’s properties”, Ms Leonard said.
“We applaud the Allan Government for showing such strong leadership to keep power bills affordable at this difficult time for ordinary householders and drive meaningful reforms towards a zero energy economy. We particularly note that this is a proposal that will not leave the one third of properties that rent statewide behind on an old, inefficient and expensive energy source. Switching from fossil gas to electric appliances can save the average household as much as $1200 per year.”
Key Facts:
Friends of the Earth welcomes proposed policy to replace fossil gas heating and hot water systems with all-electric options.
In a cost of living crisis, switching from gas to electric appliances can save households around $1200 on energy bills each year.
This is an important step towards retiring the gas mains system which leaks around 3-3.5% of a powerful climate accelerant into the open air continuously.
About us:
Friends of the Earth Melbourne has been working to keep people and the planet safe since 1973. We are part of a global network operating in 73 countries.
The No More Gas campaign has campaigned for the past 4 years to remove gas from the energy economy of Victoria tackling the fossil gas industry from the point of exploration through seismic blasting, through demand and supply activities and right through to the point of decommissioning to protect the health of the environment, the climate and people. We do this through policy work, direct advocacy and grassroots community engagement and work in solidarity with First Nations People.
