<
https://reneweconomy.com.au/equitable-gas-exit-or-costly-death-spiral-new-report-says-the-choice-is-now-up-to-governments/>
"The spiralling cost of maintaining Australia’s gas networks could ratchet up
the bills of households stuck using the fossil fuel by 11 per cent a year, a
new report has warned, if governments don’t take decisive policy actions like
banning gas from all new-build homes.
The Energy Consumers Australia (ECA) report finds that the network component,
alone, in already soaring residential gas bills could jump by 320 per cent
between 2023 to 2050, or a national average of $280 per household per year to
$1,170.
The ECA is calling for urgent government action to protect Australians who
can’t easily quit gas.
“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,”
says ECA head of policy Brian Spak.
“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.”
Victoria already has its
Gas Substitution Roadmap as does the ACT, and New
South Wales (NSW) is putting together its own
Gas Decarbonisation Roadmap for
later this year.
But South Australia, which is closing in on being powered by net 100 per cent
renewable energy generation in 2027, is at risk of ignoring the gas network
death spiral.
The problem is that as more people quit gas for cheaper to run, efficient
electric appliances, fewer people are left to pay for infrastructure that once
kept both cities and far flung communities in gas.
Acting now is a mantra that ECA and other consumer advocates have been
repeating for several years, because efforts to help renters, people on low
incomes and apartment dwellers get off gas are lagging behind those to help
homeowners.
This month the Australian Energy Market Commission (AEMC) issued the first of a
number of rules tinkering at the edges of this problem, requiring people who
disconnect entirely must pay a reasonable fee rather than the cost being passed
on to remaining customers.
Work is still being done on rules that rein in owners from continuing to pad
out their networks when they know gas use is declining, and requiring new
connections to be paid for up front by the person wanting gas."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
