Gas industry cooks up a “culture war” as the electrification of everything gathers pace
Gas industry claims that electric cooktops are more expensive and more emissions intensive than gas have been called out as “potentially misleading,” as fossil lobby groups continue to fight against electrification.
The Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG), which owns two of Victoria’s three gas networks, has published a series of claims about the cost and performance of electric cooktops.
The focus on cooktops comes as the Labor government in Victoria, the state with the highest number of households connected to gas, considers whether to mandate the electrification of homes when gas appliances reach the end of life.
A Regulatory Impact Statement (RIS) has proposed considering end-of-life replacements for gas space heating and hot water systems.
Gas cooktops are currently exempted from the state government’s phaseout plan, based on feedback from households concerned about the cost of electrifying cooking.
Still, the Allan government continues to urge households to cut what it describes as the “last appliance” tethering households to the gas network, and is offering a $140 discount on the cost of swapping out gas for induction.
One of AGIG's statements compared the carbon emissions between gas cooktops and electric grid-powered cooktops.
They claimed that gas cooktops had the lowest emissions (average 32 kg CO2-e) compared with electric grid-powered cooktops.
Jay Gordon, a gas market analyst with IEEFA, said the post was potentially misleading as the costs and emissions figures used were “so small, we are likely talking about a difference of a few dollars a year”.
Though he said it is true that an electric appliance is as green as the grid it runs on, phasing out coal and gas in the grid will lower the emissions generated by running the appliance over its average 15-year lifespan.
Gas cooktops also require twice the energy to function, he said.
Gordon says the price of gas has been pushing many households to switch voluntarily to induction cooktops, and this will often be the last swap a household makes largely to avoid paying $300 a year to maintain a gas connection in the home.