Don does away with gas
In retirement, long time Canberra resident Don decided the time was right to disconnect his home from gas. Rebates helped with the cost of upgrading his heating, hot water and stove top to all electric. Thanks to the upgrades he and his wife are enjoying cleaner air and lower energy bills.
The challenge
“We've been here 16 years and we thought ‘well, at some point in time these are going to break down so we might as well get in first before that happens’,” said Don.
“We’d had a gas hot water, heating and cook top and we decided that if we were going to replace them, we might as well upgrade to electric.
The action
“I’d been thinking about these upgrades for a while and researching the different options. Some of the people in my social tennis group had talked about getting rebates through the Home Energy Support Program.
“When I looked it up on the internet, I discovered that Pensioners can get up to $2,500 off the very appliances I was thinking about – hot water, heating and cooktops.
“I signed up for an online workshop, which is a requirement if you want a rebate. I just put my computer on and just watched it while I was having lunch!
“I got pre-approval for a rebate on the hot water system I’d been looking at. To get pre-approval, I filled in an online form and attached images of the quote for the hot water system as well as a few other things like my ID and copies of bills.
“Once the hot water system was installed, I filled out the rebate claim form which just asks for a copy of the paid invoice and details about which bank account you want to get the rebate paid into.
“We got the induction stove top separately, without a rebate. And for the air conditioning we received a rebate through our energy retailer.
The benefit
“We love the new appliances. It might have something to do with the fact that I do a lot of the cooking around here.
“Our best upgrade has been the induction cooking. We love the induction cooking. It's cleaner. It's fast. It will boil a litre of water in 2-1/2 minutes, which I don't think anything else will do that in that time.
“The air is a lot cleaner in the house for our children and our grandchildren now that we don't have gas.
“And actually we feel a bit better because we're not polluting. It’s important to cut down on greenhouse gases.
“We’ve had no problems at all with the Home Energy Support Program and it’s been a really good process. Sometimes the government can seem a bit slow when it comes to giving you money back. But not this program – they gave it back within about 10 days.
“If you’re going to switch from gas to electricity, go for it. It’s one of the best things we’ve ever done.”
What's next?
You choose.
Acknowledgement of Country
We acknowledge the Ngunnawal people as traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT and region. We acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.