A law prohibiting the use of fossil gas in homes and businesses should be implemented in the nation’s capital as early as November, following a parliamentary vote on Thursday.
The ACT’s Climate Change and Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Natural Gas Transition) Amendment Bill aims to establish the legal framework to end new gas network connections.
The ACT sources all of its electricity from 100 per cent renewables. As a result, households in the territory have largely been shielded from huge energy bill increases felt throughout the rest of the nation.
Any new fossil fuel gas connections will cease before 2045, the same date as the territory’s net zero emissions target.
The gas ban would put the territory well ahead of the rest of Australia on electrification, which many experts say is one of the fastest and cheapest ways to slash energy emissions and deliver cost of living relief.
Victoria’s ‘gas substitution roadmap’ – which incentivises households to invest in efficient electric alternatives to gas for home heating and hot water – puts the southern state close behind in the fossil-fuel free energy stakes.
Would you, provided you had incentive, remove natural gas heating and cooking from your home? What do you think could be done to hasten the nation’s path to renewable energy?