A new report estimates the huge energy bill savings to be had by Greater Brisbane households through switching out fossil fuels to electrifying everything.
Released by Rewiring Australia yesterday, the report indicates electrifying households across Greater Brisbane by 2030 would see the average household save $4,700 a year – and the flow-on effects could spark the indirect creation of up to 24,100 new jobs. Overall, annual savings amount to $3.9bn across all households in the region.
Furthermore, full electrification of Brisbane households using technologies available today and almost entirely off-the-shelf would slash the region’s emissions by 42.4%.
The transition would involve swapping out gas appliances with their electric counterparts, ditching internal combustion engine (ICE) cars for electric vehicles, and installing solar panels and home batteries. This would create a local jobs bonanza for the installation of solar gear, electric vehicle chargers, heating/cooling systems and cooktops.
Addressing The Cost Of Full Electrification
It all sounds pretty pricey for households in terms of purchases; particularly with an EV or two thrown in – and it will be. But Rewiring Australia models the economics of electrification on the basis that households won’t have to pay up-front to make the switch. The savings modelled take into account the upfront costs of purchases and are based on the assumption the items are financed over the lifetime of the asset.
“In the early years of the transition, governments will have to step in and provide co-finance like they already do for large-scale clean energy,” states the report. “Government support is essential in helping all homes, including low-income households electrify and save money on the cost of heating, cooling, cooking and driving.”
The four steps to achieve full electrification by 2030:
- 2022 – 2025: Pilots to showcase the technology
- 2022 – 2030: Subsidies to bring down costs and scale up the industry
- Training to build the workforce
- Deregulation to-cut the brown tape holding back solar, energy storage and EVs
Greater Brisbane has been defined Federal Electorates of Longman, Dickson, Petrie, Lilley, Ryan, Brisbane, Griffith, Bonner, Moreton, Oxley, Rankin, Bowman and Forde; with breakdowns of benefits for several electorates in the document.
You can download the full Rewiring Greater Brisbane report here and for a bigger picture across Australia, there’s the Rewiring Australia Castles And Cars report (technical study here).
Making A Start Now – With Solar Power
Brisbane households don’t need to wait for the Government to get into gear on supporting full electrification to start slashing their electricity bills. A 6.6kW solar system installed in Brisbane could generate savings of around $1,500 in the first year and achieve simple payback in 4 years, 9 months.
To estimate the savings a system could provide in your circumstances, try the SolarQuotes solar calculator – it’s very quick and easy to use. If you’re also keen on installing batteries, the calculator can show you how savings are affected by a battery and solar panels separately.
There are a bunch of great solar installers in Brisbane and if you don’t have the up-front cash to install panels, pick up some tips on financing a solar power system.
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The Greater Brisbane report is 11 pages, the Castles & Cars report 21 pages, and the Technical Study 109 pages. I’m going to defer that latter to another time.
Per the GB report the average Greater Brisbane household should save $4,700 in energy bills and vehicle costs. Per my post in “How Fast Can I Charge My EV At Home?” that requires a solar system supplying roughly 19,000 kWh per year.
Alternatively, if petrol\diesel cost savings are factored in, a lower solar generation figure might be possible, but remember the aforementioned article states a regular wall powerpoint only charges at about 1.5 kW and adds about 10 km of range per hour, with the precise amount depending on car and charging efficiency. This is probably on the very high end of the scale given a Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus which has a 54 kWh battery can only manage 250-515 km depending on weather and route conditions i.e. a Tesla 3 can only manage 4.6-9.5 km per kWh the battery is charged. And to get that recharge you need to factor in roughly 15% wastage for transmission losses, and battery temperature issues. (In very cold conditions home recharging waste can rise to over 40%, though this probably won’t be an issue for Greater Brisbane.) Also note for comparison purposes that a Corolla manages 10 km of range per 0.6L of petrol.
Costwise the Tesla Model 3 would require roughly 1.21-2.5 kWh of charging for a 10 km journey ((10/4.6)x1.15 & (10/9.5)x1.15)) which at a cost of 24c per kWh translates to a cost of $0.2904 to $0.6 depending on conditions. For the Corolla, and assuming a cost of $2 per litre (10%-20% above current prices), you’re looking at roughly $1.20 for the trip, or 2-4 times the cost. Of that base $2 however you’re currently looking at 22.1c of fuel tax (the tax is presented halved), and about 15c of GST. Removing the tax component drops the cost to about $0.98 or 1.5-3 times an EV’s theoretical cost. While this is still higher, it’s worth considering how a purely electric environment in Australia would change the tax situation. In 2017 the average price of electricity for households in Germany was EU$0.2916 per kWh or about AU$0.46 per kWh. Of this 55% is taxation! In other words Germans paid roughly AU$0.25 tax per kWh – more than Australians pay in total per kWh! Add a similar taxation scheme to Australian electricity – a necessity should fuel taxes be eliminated through abandoning fossil fuels etc, and power prices will double. On the ‘plus side’ it will make saving that $4,700 a lot easier.
According to the GB report switching from a gas heated water tank to an electric hot water cylinder saves most of the cost of gas, and almost all of the cost with solar – except there’s no obvious repayment for capital investment calculated, or is there? According to the report, government support is essential. The GB report argues for a pilot program to spend $100 million on 300-500 household spread across 2 urban and 2 rural communities. That translates to about a third of a million per house switched to pure electric. Note too this government funding only offers solar panels, inverters, batteries, replacement of non-electric appliances and the lease not purchase (!!!) of an EV. For homeowners privately funding such a switch the major expense would be the EV $60,000+++ so why is the government cost so high?
According to the Castle & Cars report – actually a summary of the technical report, the average Australian household uses 102 kWh of energy per day. If everything was switched to electric, this would only require 37 kWh per day, a figure that can be supplied by a 10-12 kW capacity solar system and battery – at least on a sunny day. (I haven’t managed this figure in the last 4 days, today is looking to barely make 10 kWh, and BOM is forecasting worse weather through to Friday).
According to the report the average household is 2.6 people and 1.8 cars. It also appears that it will cost $34,499 to go fully electric – though this may include interest rates on financing options. Clearly this can’t include an EV. The article also alleges EVs will become cheaper than petrol options within 4 years. Given they’re currently over double the cost, that seems … highly optimistic!
Ultimately I’m not really convinced – not really a surprise given I’m a skeptic. There’s some interesting points, but also some gaping oversights e.g. energy efficient building designs or lifestyle choices. And while the paper presents itself as non-partisan, the background suggests that’s not entirely accurate.
YMMV