SUNDAY - How gas bans have led to power supply problems 💡

0:00You're listening to the Ben Fordham podcast and now Ben Fordham comments. We know that governments are pushing households off gas and the pitch is simple, they say ditching gas and going electric is cleaner and cheaper. But in parts of Melbourne the power grid is starting to struggle to keep up and on one street it's already causing real problems. There is a Melbourne resident by the name of Marie Slaco who thought she was doing the right thing. She moved into a home with rooftop solar. She started shifting off gas and tried to electrify her life. Marie says I'd like to get off fossil fuels and gas is expensive. The winter price really hurts. But then after she made the change things stopped working. Her induction cooktop only one hot plate at a time. So microwave, well sometimes it would heat food, other times it would burn everything. And during a cold snap her heating system just gave up.

1:02Marie says I could not get the split system to work at all. There's a sense of dread waiting for winter now. When I'm cold and the split system is not heating reliably, I might have to look at returning to the old gas heating. So what's going on? Well, it's not a fault with Marie's home or anyone else in her street after investigating city powers told her that the issue is something called under voltage, under voltage. It's caused by too many homes on the one street or in the one area transitioning from gas to electricity. Did anybody warn us about this? The infrastructure can't push through enough electricity to houses during the peak time. So that's the result. Induction cooktop stopped working. EV charges start disconnecting, leaving cars without battery. She is struggling to push out hot air. Marie says I've noticed things are getting worse. It wasn't this bad last year. And experts are concerned too. City powers Tom Langstaff says the network is under pressure.

2:05He's told the ABC, as we're seeing customers draw more and more power through that network, it comes under pressure. It's definitely a rapid growth in electrification that's occurring and that's really challenging our networks. New South Wales councils, including the city of Sydney, a banning gas in new residential and commercial developments, they want all electric builds. So are they aware of the under voltage issue that's emerging elsewhere? Because based on what's happening to Marie and Melbourne, electrifying everything is easier said than done. And as more people ditch gas and go electric, the grid is coming under more pressure. Victoria Energy Policy Centre Director Bruce Mountain says this is not yet a widespread problem, not yet. But unless infrastructure catches up, more households could find themselves in the same position, fully electric, but not fully powered.