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As domestic gas supplies dwindle, homes are at risk of exponential cost rises and loss of supply. Financing electric upgrades is the best way to avoid a chaotic transition and is especially important for low-income households.
Welcome to the gas death spiral. No, it's not a heavy metal band or a wrestling move; it's the inevitable decline of the fossil gas network and the steadily increasing costs faced by those who are still stuck on it. �
In an RNZ story by Eloise Gibson, Vector chief executive Simon McKenzie warned that it might need to stop supplying gas to some suburbs due to dwindling supplies. While the decision to buy a gas hot water system or gas cooktop might seem safe now, it could come back to bite you in a few years when you find you can't fuel it - and if you can, the fuel is likely to be prohibitively expensive, as those who went early on hydrogen cars are now finding out.
We can choose to have an orderly transition off gas and help homes (especially low-income homes) finance upgrades to electric machines, or we can have a chaotic transition off gas where supply is occasionally shut off, networks eventually shut down and homeowners may be forced to rip out appliances and are burdened with unplanned costs.
Many countries are realising that they shouldn't be sleepwalking into the death spiral. Even Australia, which is one of the world's largest fossil gas exporters, knows gas has no future in the home for a few good reasons:
💲 It makes no economic sense (and renewable gas makes even less economic sense).
🤧 It is a leading cause of respiratory illness in the home, so we are basically paying extra to get asthma.
🌍 And burning it creates unnecessary emissions that are definitely not compatible with any of our climate targets.Households need to be able to swap fuel for finance if they want to electrify and get off the gas. If you want this transition to be orderly, ask your MP why the right kind of finance isn't being offered.
Find out more about the electric upgrade options and how much you can save in our electrification guides.
Financial commentator Frances Cook uses her own story to show that that an investment in solar and an EV significantly outperforms the stock market and fellow number cruncher Nadine Higgins says that if you do it right, EVs are cheaper to run and own; EV sales have climbed to their highest level since 2022 and are closing in on 2023's numbers and Go Rentals has just invested $2.3 million in some new Tesla Model Y Premiums; the gap between energy costs of diesel vans and utes and electric vans and utes is absolutely massive; solar is also going off right now, with one installer in Otago 448% above their sales target in March; Lightforce has gone back to the Barretts with a new TV ad; Wellington mayor Andrew Little explains its electrification strategy and Hutt City Council shares data showing how its fleet has gone from dirty Toyotas to cleaner EVs; Shenzen in China has electrified its public transport and taxis and that's come with big benefits - and some challenges; and a very simple illustration of the LNG terminal.
Read moreDownloadAs Minister of energy, climate and local government, Simon Watts had a great opportunity to push the country towards cheaper, cleaner and more reliable New Zealand-made energy. And that’s why we laid down a challenge and gave him the ‘MegaWatts’ moniker last year. Rewiring Aotearoa CEO Mike Casey says he did some good things, like enabling more solar on farms, removing tax on solar exports, fixing onerous solar consenting requirements, putting pressure on the lines companies to pull up their socks, and getting the ball rolling on the Ratepayer Assistance Scheme. "But the LNG import terminal appears to have been a defining issue."
Read moreDownloadAfter ‘crunching the numbers’ and adding in new sources of ‘New Zealand-made energy’ to our equations, CEO Mike Casey has announced that Rewiring Aotearoa will be changing its name to Refuelling Aotearoa. There has been a huge amount of independently verified research showing electrification beats fossil fuels on economics, efficiency, emissions and energy security and that there is a huge opportunity for New Zealand to electrify, but the discovery of an infinite supply of snake oil in New Zealand has changed everything, he says.
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