Report: Affordable energy choices for WA households
A new study from Renew in Western Australia shows the financial benefits of going all-electric.
Most people don‘t understand their own energy usage: what different appliances use, how the costs compare, what are the best choices to make when choosing major appliances for heating, cooking, and hot water. Beliefs about which fuel is cheaper or what type of appliances are more efficient can persist long after markets change and technology evolves.
The purchase and installation costs of new appliances are highly visible, but ongoing running costs are largely hidden or complex – especially when comparing across different fuel types. This problem can be exacerbated by inaccurate or misleading appliance marketing material.
Renew is committed to helping households make better choices economically and environmentally by doing the research and sharing digestible information. This is exemplified by Renew’s work on understanding the implications of fuel choice in residential households.
In 2018 Renew published Household Fuel Choice in the National Energy Market, a report on a comprehensive modelling and analysis project that considered purchase, installation, maintenance and operating costs over 10 years to determine what appliance and fuel choices led to lower costs for households in the southern and eastern states. Today Renew is publishing Affordable Energy Choices for WA Households, reporting on a similar project done for WA energy retailer Synergy looking at fuel choice for households in the South West Interconnected System.
This new study has similar findings to the earlier eastern states study:
- In most cases, when a gas appliance needs replacing, it’s more economic to replace it with an efficient electric appliance
- It’s always more economic to avoid a gas connection when building a new home and install efficient electric appliances
- Houses with rooftop solar are almost always better off with electric rather than gas major appliances