The Department of Climate change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) has released a Gas Market Review Consultation. DCCEEW has sought feedback on the effectiveness of and potential improvements to the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, Gas Market Code and Heads of Agreement with east coast gas exporters.
Climateworks suggests DCCEEW consider the following recommendations as it reviews the effectiveness of the ADGSM, Gas Market Code and HoA with gas exporters:
- Plan for a rapid and orderly phase-out of gas in the electricity and energy sectors
- Refocus the gas market to prioritise enabling the energy transition, and update energy market rules and regulations to reflect the requirements of the future energy system, including alignment with the emissions reduction objective of the National Electricity Laws
- Use the Gas Market Review to help integrate demand services for electricity as an alternative to gas-powered electricity generation, and electrification as an alternative to direct gas supply for buildings and industry. Energy efficiency is a solution to reduce gas consumption in both electricity generation and direct-use applications.
- Deliver fair and equitable support for priority households, particularly low-income households and renters, to avoid them bearing increased costs that could occur as fewer customers use gas infrastructure
- Consider how the gas market reforms could be part of a broader effort to design an energy system to enable Australia to become a renewable energy superpower, including analysis to forecast and plan energy supply, storage and transmission solutions for regional Integrated System Plans (ISPs).
More details on these recommendations can be found in the submission.