Getting older apartment buildings to go electric remains a challenge for the ACT Government. Photo: Zen Photo.
The ACT is often used as a prime example of what can be achieved in the emission reductions space when government sets a clear policy direction – combined with incentives and giving people time to pay.
The Territory was recently highlighted as part of the ANU Solar Oration 2026 which asked the question of how to manage people’s transition off using gas, rather than allowing it to happen as usage declined.
Grattan Institute energy and climate change program director Alison Reeve said a structural shift was happening where gas usage appeared to have peaked across every sector as electricity became better at the job we’d previously asked gas to do.
Gas used to be pushed as a solution for climate change about 25 years ago, as a cleaner alternative to coal-fired and other non-renewable energy sources.
But evidence showed gas’s time as a transition fuel “has now largely passed”.
“Instead, gas is actually a fuel that is in transition. It is moving from being widespread to being localised; from being the everyday fuel to being an insurance fuel; and from cheap to expensive,” Ms Reeve said.
“For a long time, it was absolutely true that it was better for the environment to use gas … people absorbed that message, and now we’re having to tell them a different message, and that’s going to take time.”
How’s the ACT’s move to no more fossil fuel gas by 2045 going?
Canberra’s energy transition is already underway.
Emissions are already 47 per cent below 1990 levels, which equates to going from 11 tonnes of carbon emissions per person per year to about 3 tonnes per person per year.
The single largest step towards achieving this was the ACT reaching 100 per cent use of renewable electricity in 2020.
“That fundamentally changed our emissions profile and it changed everything that comes next, because once you decarbonise electricity, it allows … us the opportunity to electrify everything else,” climate change, energy, water and waste executive group manager Fiona Wright said.
One of the next-largest opportunities to reduce emissions lies in gas.
The ACT Government made it clear in 2022 that it wanted to electrify by 2045.
At this time about 70 per cent of homes were connected to the gas network and demand was steady. But then households began using less gas as electric alternatives became better.
“Setting that clear [policy] direction really mattered. But just as important was creating a pathway that people could clearly follow,” Ms Wright said.
All-electric suburbs began being built, new gas connections were banned, the Sustainable Household Scheme was established and the Everyday Climate Choices website provided people with information about alternatives and incentives.
Now, overall gas consumption (in terms of volume consumed) in the ACT has fallen about 20 per cent since 2020.
The number of gas connections either disconnected or sitting unused increased by 15 per cent.
“[These numbers] represent thousands of individual choices that people are making everyday about their lives, their homes and their businesses across Canberra,” Ms Wright said.
“Clear policy signals matter, and time matters … if governments provide that direction early enough, households can make decisions, businesses can plan.”
What are some remaining challenges?
Ms Wright said a big hurdle for getting rid of gas in the ACT was older apartment buildings – and it wasn’t because the technology didn’t exist.
“Sometimes the challenge is simply getting a large group of people to agree on what to do next, especially when that decision involves spending money,” she said.
“The next stages won’t be easy, but it’s encouraging to be able to see … progress.”
It’s an area of concern also picked up by the Energy Efficiency Council.
Its latest scorecard ranked the ACT first in the country for energy efficiency, down to its “ambitious electrification policies, market-leading energy efficiency measures, strong consumer support programs and a clear long-term transition strategy”.
The Territory’s energy efficiency policy was its strongest area (9/10 score) and it’s the nation-leader in residential electrification policy.
But areas for improvement included addressing the absence of a regulated requirement to replace existing gas appliances at end-of-life (it’s currently only encouraged), an absence of minimum electrification standards for rentals, and the lack of apartment programs available.
The council had some suggestions for the ACT to improve its score further:
“Introduce a gas appliance replacement requirement including a formal pathway requiring gas appliances to be replaced with efficient electric alternatives at end-of-life,” it stated.
“Expand existing building and apartment electrification programs, building on the Sustainable Apartments Pilot and rental standards by providing stronger support for apartment buildings and existing homes transitioning away from gas.”
Ms Wright said the government was considering what strata laws and regulations needed to either be changed or introduced to get more apartment buildings switched over from gas to electric.
“The technology will meet people where they are, but we need people to be able to move as a group and make those decisions,” she said.
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What else can be done?
Ms Reeve warned other states, and the Federal Government, needed to look at the ACT’s example as demand for gas continued to decline.
As more people leave the network, those remaining will end up paying higher ‘standing’ or ‘daily’ charges for the gas providers to operate and maintain the infrastructure (referred to as a death spiral).
Renters and low-income households are left at risk of footing the increasing bills without help.
Ms Reeve said there needed to be a national law to limit how much increased network cost could be placed on consumers, and changes made to give network owners the right to remove users from the network (with an adequate notice period).
“We’re effectively splitting households into the haves and the havenots, where the havenots have the least capacity to pay those higher bills,” she said.
“If we don’t do something about this network death spiral, it’s going to be this group of households who have all the burden of paying for the gas network that we’ve built.”