“Relying on gas is bad for the planet, bad for our finances and bad for our health.” So declared Clover Moore, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Australia, on Monday as she confirmed all new households will be required to be fully electrified from 2027 going forward with no alternative choices such as gas allowed.
Medium to large commercial buildings, hotels and serviced apartment buildings will also be required to operate fully on electricity under the new imposed strictures.
The council governing Australia’s biggest city had restricted indoor gas appliances, like stoves and heaters, in new homes earlier this year but the new mandate to ensure no more gas usage is a step further.
Nine News reports the strict new planning controls were given final endorsement by the City of Sydney Council in a unanimous vote.
Left-wing Moore said that the reforms would not only improve residents’ health – but also save them money – an argument previously used by New York City when it adopted the same strictures on freedom of choice in 2023, as Breitbart News reported.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore says a ban on future domestic gas usage in new builds alongside a change to all-electric buildings is a “logical next step” (Don Arnold/WireImage)
“Relying on gas is bad for the planet, bad for our finances and bad for our health,” she said while critics point out it will increase the risk of blackouts, delay the building sector and make household bills more expensive.
The Daily Mail notes millions of Australian consumers will be banned from using gas while the country’s mining sector exports record amounts of it that is then burned in foreign countries – all while raking in huge profits and, according to the tax office, dodging paying tax.
Industry body Urban Taskforce challenged the idea electrification would magically bring down carbon emissions and said energy should remain a matter of consumer choice.
File/Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and performer Hannah Conda look on during the launch of the 2022 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras at Sydney Cricket Ground on October 14, 2021 in Sydney, Australia. (Mark Evans/Getty Images)
“Urban Taskforce Australia is concerned about the ramification these apparently small changes to the DCP will have on project feasibility, apartment affordability, supply-chain risks, and other unintended consequences,” it reportedly submitted.
“The application of energy requirements or constraints must be measured against the implications for project feasibility, housing supply, market demand and economic resilience.”
Several groups questioned whether the electricity grid could reliably handle the extra demand without blackouts and outages.
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