Victoria gets cooking on gas substitution

The Victorian government has revealed its next steps in shifting away from fossil gas and electrifying residential and commercial buildings.

The Gas Substitution Roadmap was developed to move Victorian homes and businesses off fossil gas – which contributes to around 17 per cent of the state’s total emissions – to all-electric alternatives.

From the start of 2024, gas connections were banned for all new homes and residential subdivisions that require a planning permit. Gas connections are still allowed, however, for residential developments that do not require a planning permit, or new commercial buildings.

Now, the government is investigating options to progressively electrify all new residential and most commercial buildings where appropriate electric appliance options are readily available. It will also consider the costs and benefits of requiring existing gas appliances in homes and relevant commercial buildings to be replaced with electric appliances at end of life.

These options will be explored in a regulatory impact statement (RIS), to be released for public consultation in late 2024. The government has indicated that the “preferred” option in the RIS will be to exclude gas cooktops in existing homes as well as gas appliances in existing commercial buildings. The RIS will not cover industrial or agricultural gas uses, or LPG and bottled gas.

The government will decide on final regulations in 2025, taking feedback into account.

Photo by Henry Kobutra on Unsplash