Energy Data · Australia · Updated 13 July 2026

All-electric homes vs gas connections in Australia

Victoria and the ACT are the only Australian jurisdictions that restrict new gas connections in most new homes. In New South Wales, South Australia, some Queensland gas distribution networks and the ACT (for the small number of connections still permitted), new retail gas customers will generally need to pay cost-reflective connection charges upfront from 1 October 2026.

Australian Government Treasury modelling estimates that switching cooking, space heating and water heating from gas to electricity saves the average household $1,040 a year, including upfront costs.

Across AER Schedule 2 jurisdictions, there were an implied 7.06 million residential electricity accounts and 2.36 million residential gas accounts at 31 March 2026 — electricity accounts outnumber reported residential gas accounts by about three to one in the jurisdictions covered.

SECTION 01 · Gas connection rules

Which states restrict gas connections in new builds in Australia?

Victoria and the ACT are the only Australian jurisdictions that restrict new gas connections in most new homes. Other states do not have statewide bans, although new gas connection costs are changing in parts of the east-coast gas network, and some councils have introduced local planning controls.

Victoria's restriction applies in two stages. Homes needing a planning permit went all-electric from 1 January 2024. The rule extends to most new homes and most new commercial buildings from 1 January 2027.

The ACT prevented most new gas network connections from 8 December 2023. This covers residential, commercial and community-facility zones, with limited exemptions.

No other state has banned new gas connections outright. The cost of getting one is changing instead. From 1 October 2026, cost-reflective upfront connection charges apply to new retail gas customers connecting to main gas distribution networks in:

• New South Wales
• South Australia
• The ACT (for the few cases still permitted)
• Some Queensland gas distribution networks

Victoria introduced a similar upfront-payment rule on 1 January 2025. Western Australia has no equivalent upfront-cost rule. Its regulator's AA6 decision covers the Mid-West and South-West gas distribution systems for 2025 to 2029.

Source: Victorian Government Gas Substitution Roadmap; ACT Government policy on preventing new gas network connections (2023); respective council DCPs; ERA WA Access Arrangement 2025–2029 (AA6).

SECTION 02 · Cost comparison

What does it cost to build all-electric vs with a gas connection?

Treasury modelling estimates that switching cooking, space heating and water heating from gas to electricity saves the average household $1,040 a year, including upfront capital costs. In Victoria, government modelling estimates that a new all-electric detached home saves around $990 a year compared with a new dual-fuel home, rising to $1,920 a year when paired with rooftop solar.

Source: Treasury, Australia's Net Zero Transformation, September 2025; Victorian Government all-electric home guidance; AER Victorian gas distribution access arrangements 2023–28; Essential Services Commission Victoria, Gas Distribution Code of Practice, October 2024.

Leaving the network later is a separate cost. Victoria caps the customer-facing abolishment fee at $220. The real cost to the network is closer to $1,200, historically recovered from remaining gas customers.

On 2 April 2026, the Australian Energy Market Commission finalised a national framework requiring customers who permanently abolish a gas connection to pay the cost-reflective charge for that service, rather than sharing the cost across remaining customers.

The framework is being phased in: information requirements for distributors start on 1 October 2026, retailer requirements follow from January 2027, and charging obligations take effect from the start of each network's next access arrangement period.

SECTION 03 · Why it's happening

What is driving the shift away from gas in new housing?

National gas demand is forecast to decline 23% by 2045, with the pace varying by region:

• East coast: more than 40% decline, with residential and commercial gas use forecast to fall sharply as more appliances shift to electricity.
• Western Australia: 4% decline.

For new housing, gas connection rules, running-cost comparisons and household energy technology are moving in different ways across Australia. Victoria and the ACT have restricted most new gas connections, while other states still allow gas in new homes.

Queensland is an exception to the broader policy pattern. The state repealed its renewable energy targets in 2025, although the gas customer growth shown below covers 2020-21 to 2024-25 and mostly predates that policy change.

Source: Clean Energy Council, Clean Energy Australia 2026, May 2026.

Solar and battery uptake sits alongside a slower-moving shift in gas and electricity customer numbers. The chart below shows how customer accounts changed across the five years to 2024-25, by state.

SECTION 04 · Customer numbers

How many electricity and gas customers does Australia have?

Electricity customers outnumber gas customers by roughly three to one in the AER Schedule 2 jurisdictions shown, with an implied 7.06 million electricity accounts and 2.36 million gas accounts at 31 March 2026.

These figures cover accounts under the National Energy Customer Framework: NSW, Queensland, South Australia and the ACT, plus Tasmania for electricity only. Victoria and Western Australia report through separate state regulators and aren't included.

Source: AER, Schedule 2, Retail Performance Data, Q3 2025-26, quarter ending 31 March 2026.

How have customer numbers changed since 2020-21?

Across the AER Schedule 2 jurisdictions shown, about two-thirds of electricity customer accounts, 66.6%, have no matching residential gas account in the same dataset. That figure comes from subtracting reported gas customer accounts from electricity customer accounts, so it is an implied account-based estimate, not a home-by-home survey.

The gap between electricity and gas customers varies by state

That 66.6% national figure hides a wide spread across states:

Newer gas-connected homes use less gas for heating

In the ACT, only 10% of gas-connected homes that connected in 2022 were still using gas for heating, down from 52% among homes connected before 2005. Victoria shows a smaller shift, from 74% to 59% over a similar period.

Both the ACT and Victoria restrict new gas connections. The fall in gas heating use has not been even between them:

• ACT: 52% to 10%, a change of 42 percentage points.
• Victoria: 74% to 59%, a change of 15 percentage points.

The larger change in the ACT may reflect differences in the timing of gas connections, housing stock and local electrification settings, but this dataset does not isolate one cause.

SECTION 05 · Building standards

Do building energy rules require all-electric new homes?

Building energy-efficiency rules set standards for the building and its fixed services, but they do not require all-electric homes or ban gas connections.

The National Construction Code 2022 raised the minimum thermal performance standard for new houses from 6 stars to 7 stars and introduced Whole of Home energy-use requirements for fixed appliances such as heating, cooling, hot water and lighting. A new home can meet the 7-star standard and still have a gas connection in any state or territory where gas remains permitted.

The same National Construction Code update also introduced:

• Whole of Home annual energy-use requirements for new houses and apartments.
• Electric vehicle charging readiness requirements for new apartment buildings.
• Solar photovoltaic and battery readiness requirements for some new apartment and commercial buildings.

States and territories adopted the new energy-efficiency requirements on different dates, and New South Wales uses BASIX rather than the standard NCC Whole of Home pathway.

Source: Australian Building Codes Board, What's new about NCC 2022; state building authority transition guidance.

The differences between states are mostly about timing and compliance pathways, not whether the building standard itself bans gas. The gas-connection rules sit separately from the 7-star and Whole of Home energy-efficiency settings.

SECTION 06 · Existing homes

What happens to existing gas-connected homes?

Residential gas customers in the jurisdictions covered by the AER dataset total an implied 2.36 million accounts, so restrictions on new gas connections do not immediately remove gas from existing homes. Current new-build restrictions generally apply to future connections, not existing gas connections.

None of the current new-build policies require existing gas connections to be removed immediately. Some rules apply when gas appliances reach the end of their working life:

• Victoria: from 1 March 2027, a broken, irreparable gas hot-water system in an existing home must generally be replaced with an efficient electric alternative. Repair and maintenance of a working system can continue.
• Reverse-cycle air conditioners are already covered by national energy performance rules.
• Heat pumps are due to be added to those rules by 1 July 2027.
• Gas cooktops remain unregulated.

Some small gas networks are being closed where suppliers no longer consider them viable:

Together, these closures affect fewer than 10,000 customers, compared with the 2.36 million residential gas accounts reported in the AER dataset. Network-level decommissioning is uncommon, and gas continues to serve most existing gas-connected homes.

SECTION 07 · Consumer attitudes

How do Australians feel about gas versus electric?

Households are more attached to gas for cooking than for heating. About 69% of current gas-cooking users say they would choose gas cooking again, while only 42% of current gas space-heating users say they would prefer electric next time.

Stated intent to disconnect from gas within the next ten years varies sharply by state, and is highest in the jurisdictions with the strictest new-build rules.

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