Introduction by Croakey: Household electrification programs must prioritise people with low incomes and renters as these groups otherwise risk remaining shackled to a gas network that both risks their health and becomes increasingly expensive as more affluent households electrify, according to Dr Harry Jennens, a general practitioner and Co-Founder of Healthy Futures.
Healthy Futures is urging the Victorian Government to develop an Equitable Electrification Program to protect vulnerable Victorians from the health and economic risks of ongoing gas use. The concerns raised by Jennens below also raise questions for other jurisdictions.
Harry Jennens writes:
On 28 November, I stood with other healthcare workers and community members on the steps of Victorian Parliament to deliver a public message to Premier Jacinta Allan: it’s time to get off gas for our health.
We delivered an open letter (available here) signed by 15 health and equity organisations, including the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Asthma Australia, calling on the Victorian Government to institute an Equitable Electrification Program to protect vulnerable Victorians from the health and economic risks of ongoing gas use.
As a general practitioner, I’m just one of a growing number of health professionals concerned about the health impacts of gas on our patients, mediated by both release of toxic pollutants and exacerbation of climate change.
Burning gas releases nitrogen dioxide, a respiratory irritant that can trigger exacerbations of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Studies have estimated that 12 percent of childhood asthma in Australia is attributable to gas stoves, and that a child living with a gas stove has a 30 percent increased risk of asthma, comparable to the risk imparted by exposure to secondhand cigarette smoke.
Last year a study in the United States found that gas stoves emitted benzene, an airborne toxin known to increase risk of leukaemia. In several houses included in the study, the gas stoves raised indoor concentrations of benzene above international benchmarks for acceptable exposure levels, both in the kitchens and in bedrooms elsewhere in the house.
World Health Organization guidelines advise there is no known safe level of benzene exposure and recommend reducing indoor levels as low as possible.
Climate change is a health emergency. Its impacts are already considerable and growing, both in Australia and globally, and if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed rapidly its future impacts will be difficult to overstate. Australian households must be urgently supported to switch from gas to renewable electricity to reduce emissions.
Beyond these health risks, ongoing dependence on gas can also risk increasing cost of living and exacerbating economic inequity. Replacing gas with electricity entails upfront costs but then tends to decrease the cost of energy.
As more affluent households disconnect from the gas network to reap the health and economic benefits, the cost of maintaining the gas network will be shared amongst a smaller and smaller group of remaining gas consumers, who will consequently face increasing gas supply charges.
Without support to electrify, less affluent households could remain trapped in dependence on an increasingly expensive and harmful energy source. Renters in particular have little control over their energy supply, and will need specific policy support.
Despite all of these risks, in September this year Premier Allan announced that gas cooktops would not be addressed by upcoming legislation, the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024, which aims to modernise Victoria’s energy infrastructure.
Excluding cooktops from electrification plans leaves Victorians exposed to both their health impacts and the economic burden of an increasingly unnecessary gas network.
Inadequate policies
Health organisations have now publicly raised their concerns about this approach and its health implications.
Dr Aadhil Aziz, council member of the RACGP Victorian Branch, said: “The RACGP supports this call to safeguard Victorians from the health impacts of gas cooktops in homes.”
Amanda Bresnan, Government Relations and Advocacy Manager at Asthma Australia, highlighted the immediate risks for people living with asthma: “We are very concerned that people in Victoria will continue to be exposed to the damaging health impacts of gas cooktops and we must ensure they are phased out or not installed in homes.”
To protect both health and equity, we need policies that prioritise electrification for rental properties and households with limited means. Transitioning homes from gas to efficient electric alternatives, such as induction cooktops can improve indoor air quality and health and decrease costs of living.
For example, in California, USA, the High-Efficiency Electric Home Rebate Act (HEERHA) focuses on helping low- and moderate-income households to afford energy-efficient upgrades.
Rebates are means-tested and tiered such that households with an annual income below 80 percent of the local median income can receive rebates that cover the entire cost of energy efficiency upgrades, while moderate-income households receive a 50 percent rebate.
Meanwhile, here in Victoria (the most gas-dependent state in the country), the State Government now offers a rebate of approximately $140 for replacing a gas cooktop with an electric alternative. According to choice.com.au, an induction cooktop ranges from $449 to $6,349.
Our current policies are inadequate to enable struggling Victorians to harness the economic and health benefits of electrification, and do not sufficiently incentivise landlords to provide these benefits to their tenants.
It is of further concern that people who are unable to self-fund electrification are also more likely to live in smaller homes that are less well ventilated, which could increase their exposure to toxins released by gas burning.
Replacement of gas with renewable electricity is a crucial and urgent step in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and limiting the health impacts of climate change. Electrification of homes can also yield immediate health benefits and reduce costs of living.
Electrification programs must prioritise people with low incomes and renters, lest those people remain shackled to a gas network that both risks their health and becomes increasingly expensive as more affluent households electrify.
In this context, arbitrarily excluding gas cooktops from electrification programs makes little sense; while gas hot water and heating appliances continue to be electrified, gas cooktops will remain connected to an increasingly expensive network.
It could also delay the decommissioning of the gas network, which is both necessary and urgent to limit climate change and its colossal public health impacts.
Health organisations have made the case for a rapid and comprehensive electrification program that prioritises equity and health. We will continue to advocate for public health over vested interests, and we hope you can join us.
• Dr Harry Jennens is a general practitioner and Co-Founder of Healthy Futures, an organisation of healthcare workers and community members advocating to reduce harmful pollution. You can read the health organisations’ joint letter to Premier Allan and find out more at www.healthyfutures.net.au/vicgas
Signatories to the open letter
See Croakey’s archive of articles on health inequalities
