Page 4290 - Week 13 - Thursday, 19 November 2015
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(a) undertake a review of the future use of gas in the ACT taking into account the development of new suburbs, the financial viability of gas as fuel for new and established homes, likelihood of increases in gas prices in the medium to long term, and the ACT’s emission reduction targets;
(b) report back to the Assembly on the outcomes of this review in the first sitting of 2016; and
(c) submit to the AER the outcomes of, and recommendations from, this review prior to the closing date for public submissions on the determination on 4 February 2016.
I am pleased to have the opportunity to discuss this motion today as I think that today’s debate will start a conversation that we need to have in the ACT about the future role of gas in our energy mix.
The pertinence of this conversation becomes apparent when we consider that the Australian Energy Regulator, the AER, is right now preparing a draft decision on gas in the ACT for the period from 2016 to 2021. This decision will, amongst other things, give some indication of the amount of money that ActewAGL distribution will be allowed to invest in capital expenditure, including money to be spent extending the gas network across our city.
This is an important conversation for our community for a number of reasons. Firstly, we are a city with ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, so we should be giving consideration to the future role of gas in our energy mix. Secondly, we have committed to rolling out climate change policies in a socially just way. We need to ensure that, with consumers potentially starting to move away from gas, we do not leave those most vulnerable using an expensive fuel with no capacity to shift technologies. Thirdly, we need to ensure that gas consumers across this city are not going to end up cross-subsiding expensive new infrastructure that is likely to end up being redundant in the decades to come, especially when there are other options.
Natural gas is commonly used in the ACT for home heating, hot water and cooking. We used between 18 and 21 gigajoules per capita between 2009 and 2013, although the rate of usage does vary significantly depending on the weather. In terms of the greenhouse gas profile, gas is the third highest contributor in the categories of greenhouse emissions we have. It is smaller than the categories of electricity and transport fuels but it still accounts for 10 per cent of our total emissions annually, especially when you add in emissions from natural gas leakage.
Given that the ACT’s policies on renewable energy will deliver us to 100 per cent renewable electricity by 2025, gas becomes a substantial part of the residual stationary emissions that need to be dealt with to ensure we transition fully from fossil fuels to genuinely sustainable energy in our city. This is not to negate the significant challenge we have with transport fuels but, in terms of stationary energy, it is the next big thing.
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