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Newsroom's Marc Daalder looks into a Gas Industry Company report about the costs of switching to electricity and speaks with Rewiring Aoteaora CEO Mike Casey and others about the 'war of words'.
When it comes to figuring out the costs of moving away from gas, who do you trust?
You could choose to trust the gas industry, which obviously wants to keep New Zealanders high on its supply.
Or you could choose to trust New Zealand households that have chosen to tell an independent organisation working hard to reduce customer energy bills and emissions how much money they’re saving by transitioning to fully electric homes.
Last week, the Gas Industry Company (GIC) released a report on the costs of switching to electricity. Our response was that it was misleading, it made incorrect efficiency comparisons, it used unrealistic assumptions for the uptake of technology like hot water heat pumps, and it completely failed to take account of solar and batteries.
As Casey said: “If you’re very pessimistic about the adoption of solar and batteries and hot water heat pumps, then you could probably draw a similar conclusion to what they’ve drawn. But when you look overseas and see what’s happening in Australia, I think there’s a degree of inevitability around large-scale adoption of efficient electric machines and the ability for us to generate and store electricity ourselves.”
We also questioned the disconnection costs the gas industry was quoting.
“This idea that it costs $2000 to disconnect gas – we know for a fact that it doesn’t take that. It takes probably a couple of hundred dollars. The gas industry wants to quote that price because it adds to the cost of moving off gas which of course makes their numbers look way better.”
The GIC is marking its own homework and cherrypicking numbers here. New Zealand homeowners - and decision makers - should be sprinkling these findings with plenty of salt.
How the sun led to higher salaries for teachers in the US and why this should be happening here, too; how "the once-rigid link between economic growth and carbon emissions is breaking across the vast majority of the world" as electrification gives more countries a productivity boost (and how that would allow New Zealand to keep embracing our long, languid summer break); solar continues to weather storms and provide 'free resilience'; Dunedin laundry company Preens goes electric and saves over 300 utes worth of emissions; the company that wants you to drink diesel exhaust; and a wonderful rundown of the Kill Bills tour - and the national electrification opportunity - from one of the tour sponsors.
Read moreDownloadAs gas supplies decline and prices rise, electrification is the best bet, but it's hard for big businesses without government support. Kirsty Johnston talks to Rainbow Nurseries about how it made the switch with help from a grant, and others who are unsure they will be able to keep getting gas. As one busines owner said: "We never considered the risk to the business of not actually having natural gas," one participant said. "We always expect that the price could fluctuate… But we never anticipated maybe having no gas coming from the pipeline." There are ways for the Government to help. And there is a huge amount of new renewable electricity coming on stream, so there won't be a shortage of electrons.
Read moreDownloadMarc Daalder reports on Vector's declining gas network and how it is responding to falling customer numbers. As he writes: "Gas in Auckland is formally past its peak in the latest forecasts from Vector, the city’s only gas distribution business, with new connections set to fall to zero in three years ... From 2029, there would be no new residential or commercial connections – with new industrial connections projected to have already ceased this year."
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