Australian renters are missing out on more than $2.6 billion a year in potential energy savings because of a regulatory quirk that leaves tenants paying fixed gas connection fees instead of landlords, according to new analysis from Rewiring Australia.

Roughly half of Australian renters (49%) are connected to mains gas, leaving 1.63 million households paying hundreds of dollars a year in fixed charges for a network they did not choose and cannot disconnect from.

In Greater Sydney, about 383,000 rental households are connected to mains gas, with tenants collectively paying an estimated $101 million a year in fixed charges simply to keep those lines live. Around 89,000 Sydney rental households use gas exclusively for cooking - paying roughly $264 a year in mandatory connection fees while burning as little as $1 worth of actual gas over 12 months.

Rewiring Australia CEO Francis Vierboom said renters were being locked out of savings available to homeowners because the current system gives landlords no financial reason to replace aging gas appliances.

“Efficient electric appliances are cheaper to run than gas and, as more households make the switch, getting off gas altogether will become increasingly important for keeping energy bills down,” Mr Vierboom said.

“The problem for renters is that they pay the gas bill, while the landlord owns the appliances and decides whether the home stays connected. So the person feeling the pain of rising gas costs is the one person who cannot do anything about it.

“As more households leave the gas network, the cost of maintaining those ageing pipes will be spread across fewer customers. Without reform, renters risk being stranded on an increasingly expensive network while homeowners are able to move on.”

Rewiring Australia is calling for fixed gas connection charges to be treated like water supply charges, with property owners paying the fixed infrastructure cost and tenants paying only for the gas they actually use.

“If the landlord decides a property stays connected to gas, the landlord should pay the fixed cost of that decision. This is not about forcing landlords into expensive upgrades overnight, just fixing the incentive so when an old gas appliance reaches the end of its life, replacing it with an efficient electric alternative makes financial sense for the property owner,” Mr Vierboom said.

In NSW, eligible landlords can already access zero-interest loans of up to $15,000 for energy upgrades including induction cooktops, heat-pump hot water, and reverse-cycle air conditioning.

“The finance is increasingly there but what is missing is the incentive. Fixing this quirk would cut bills, speed up electrification of rental homes, and stop tenants being left carrying the cost of a gas network everyone else is gradually leaving,” Mr Vierboom said.

MEDIA: Eliot Barham | 0423 921 200

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