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A groundbreaking pilot to electrify 500 homes in the Illawarra region of NSW was announced in Australia recently after a two-year campaign led by the local community.
The Electrify 2515 Community Pilot is an $11.8 million partnership between Rewiring Australia, Brighte, and Endeavour Energy with $5.4 million in federal funding through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). The project is a major step towards electrifying all Australian households to reduce energy bills and emissions.
It will provide real-world data on a concentrated and rapid electrification of a community, measuring consumer behaviour, attitudes and energy bill savings. “The pilot aims to create the electric future in a real community today,” said Dr Saul Griffith, Rewiring Australia Co-founder and Chief Scientist.
“Incentives and information will support households to make wise energy choices and coordination of tradespeople will facilitate the process. Our research will uncover any barriers that make electrification harder than it should be and highlight market reforms required to make the transition economically efficient. Australia is the leading rooftop solar nation. Pilots like these will allow us to invent the clean consumer energy model for the whole world.”
Under the pilot, residents of the 2515 postcode can apply for subsidies of up to $1,000 off electric hot water systems, reverse cycle air conditioners, induction cooktops, and up to $1500 off home batteries. Each household will also have a free smart energy device installed to optimise their energy use, and switchboard upgrades to support the new appliances. Additional incentives will be available for lower income households to make the program accessible to a diverse range of people.
Katherine McConnell, CEO of Brighte, which offers green finance and administers energy programs, said: “This pilot will help us understand how to scale and commercialise home electrification, including how best to overcome economic and practical challenges faced by tradies and homeowners in electrifying their homes. “Tradespeople are key to the neighbourhood transition to electric homes. Brighte’s platform and processes bring everything together, connecting customers with accredited local installers, approved products and competitive finance. Brighte is ready to support communities around the country to help them rapidly electrify.”
Electricity distribution network operator, Endeavour Energy, will be assessing and monitoring the local grid during the pilot, generating insights about how to best utilise the network for all customers as we manage the smart energy transition. Endeavour Energy CEO Guy Chalkley said “This is our opportunity to work with community partners and the federal government to help decarbonise the electricity grid and electrify homes with efficient appliances, electric hot water systems, solar and batteries. We are excited and confident that this will help create clean, green communities that show the way for others to follow.
Dan Cass, Rewiring Australia Co-founder and Executive Director said: “The world is moving towards electrification - it’s cheaper for householders and better for the environment. The technology is ready and the way this community has campaigned so hard for this pilot shows Australians are ready too.”
"Federal government funding to demonstrate the electric future will help Australia innovate new technologies, business models and policies that can bring forward tens of billions of dollars in savings for all households,” he said.
In the last Electric Avenue of 2025, we look at the two biggest trends in the world of energy; the Government goes electric for its fancy fleet upgrade; Nick Offerman offers his services to a US campaign extolling the virtues of EVs; Australia shows what's possible in new homes when you add solar, batteries and smart tech; a start-up selling portable solar and battery systems that wants it to be as easy and common as wi-fi; and The Lines Company looks to put some solar on the roof of the Ōtorohanga Kiwi House.
Read moreDownloadWhen it comes to electric farming, "the numbers are becoming undeniable," says Nicholson Poultry's Jeff Collings. With 60kW of solar, a Nissan Leaf as a 'farm quad', electric mowers, an electric ute that can run a water blaster, and even a chicken manure scraper made out of a wrecked Tesla that, as Rewiring's Matt Newman says, looks a bit like something out of Mad Max, "almost everything is electric". There aren't many others in New Zealand who have gone this far down the electric road. And, with his electric Stark Varg, the fastest off-road motorbike in the world, he's obviously having plenty of fun on that road, too.
Read moreDownloadRNZ's Kate Newton reports on the "madness" of thousands of new piped gas connections being installed into houses every year, despite dwindling supplies and higher lifetime costs.
Casey said it was positive that the numbers showed people starting to leave the gas network of their own accord, but not all households were in a position to make that choice.
"If we don't plan for a decommissioning of the gas network, then it's going to be a chaotic transition, where vulnerable New Zealanders really suffer."
As the research of Rewiring and others has shown, gas is expensive, it's getting more expensive, it's terrible for your health when burned inside and there are substitutes available right now that, on average, do the same job for less money over the long run for households, would save the country billions on health costs and lost productivity, and don't pump out unnecessary emissions.
Around 300,000 homes and businesses have connections to the gas network (it’s estimated another 300,000 use more expensive bottled gas, mostly in the South Island). The number of active connections has started to decline recently and the country’s largest gas network, Vector, is forecasting no new residential or commercial connections after 2029.
Upfront capital costs are the main barrier for many homes, which is why we're working hard on a low-interest, long-term loan scheme that can be used to pay for electric upgrades, including hot water heat pumps. This would mean paying for a new thing with a loan would be cheaper than paying to run the old thing.
Read more about the scheme here.
Disconnection costs are also a major barrier. We have seen examples where households permanently disconnecting from the network have been charged between $1,000 and $2,000 to have a meter permanently removed (i.e. digging up the pipes to the road), even though it should only cost customers $200 to have the connection capped at the house.
RNZ even reported a case where a business customer was quoted $7,500 but took the case to Utilities Disputes, where complaints about disconnection costs have been rising.
The Australian Energy Regulator and the state of Victoria have now capped the disconnection fees to a few hundred dollars to stop this kind of behaviour and protect households.