The arguments for making the switch to natural gas are compelling. Chief among them, the fact you’ll save money – and help the environment in the process. But exactly how much can you save? And how can you quantify your environmental impact? In an effort to answer those questions, we combed through three years of data for insights.
To start, we compared two average size households – one in Melbourne and one in Adelaide – in terms of energy costs for cooking, hot water and heating appliances, using either natural gas or electricity over the past three years. If you were a Victorian resident using electricity in 2016, your annual energy cost would have been $1,480. A South Australian could expect to pay $1,219 over the same period. Now, the same households running natural gas would have spent $1,004 and $942 respectively for the year. This represents a saving of $476 for our Melbourne residency, and $276 for the Adelaide household, when using gas – a major difference.
When considered over the period of the next two years, the figures establish a clear-cut pattern of gas being the logical option for those trying to reduce their energy spend. A Victorian house would have saved $521 in 2017, and a massive $673 in 2018, with gas. A South Australian household would have been $473 better off in 2017, and a hefty $634 in 2018. Taking all this into account, how much could you save in the long run by making the switch? Well, our Melbourne household would walk away with an extra $1631 for the period of 2016–18 when compared with electric, while our friends in Adelaide could have saved themselves $1383 over the same timeframe.
While it’s clear that natural gas is the natural choice when it comes to your bank balance, it’s also a great way to go green. A Victorian household that switched to natural gas could expect to produce on average 71 percent less CO2 annually than if they ran electricity. For South Australians, that figure changes to 58 percent. In practical terms, Adelaideans using natural gas would prevent 4 tonnes of CO2 equivalent from being released to the atmosphere over three years, while Melburnians would save a staggering 16 tonnes in the same period.
All things considered, natural gas is the clear choice for both your finances and the environment. If you’re ready to make the change to natural gas, we’d love to talk to you.
