Rewiring Australia

$80,000 | August 2023

What do Rewiring Australia do?

Rewiring Australia is on a mission to Electrify Everything. That is, to replace all fossil fuel-based machines with efficient, electric ones powered by renewable energy. They are working to empower communities, transform the energy landscape and accelerate the electric future.

Why is this work important?

If we electrify everything, we don’t just help address the climate crisis, we create a world that is cheaper, cleaner and fairer. 70% of Australia’s domestic emissions occur at the household and business level. To meet our emissions targets we need to rapidly replace the fossil fuel machines that sit in homes, driveways and businesses with efficient, electric versions that are powered by renewable energy. These are decisions that are happening around dinner tables and meetings rooms across the county and can be positively influenced and supported. The focus of RA’s work is to make replacing fossil fuel machines with electric alternatives compelling and attainable. That means advocating for government investment that incentives homes and businesses to go fossil fuel free, demonstrating to the public the substantial cost savings associated with all electric homes and businesses and working with individuals and communities to drive electrification within their own suburbs and streets.

How is Groundswell supporting this work?

The next 12 months are critical in kick starting government investment in electrification. With Groundswell’s support, Rewiring Australia are focusing on the following goals:

Community mobilisation and education

Electrification creates a tangible climate solution that households and communities can take control of and brings a wide range of economic and health benefits. At Rewiring Australia we are helping educate households about these benefits and processes to electrify whilst supporting community groups to mobilise their networks.

Our initial support of volunteer-led local electrification campaigns (Electrify 2515, Suburb Zero ACT, Electrify Boroondara) has helped showcase the power of community campaigning. These campaigns have mobilised and organised local networks, run electrification education forums, planned bulk buy programs, engaged with their local governments and led political lobbying. We intend to build on this by creating a formalised community mobilisation program that works closely with more groups across Australia. A coordinated community mobilisation program will ensure more households are supported in their electrification journey and will demonstrate the broad support for electrification to decision makers, whilst identifying new and creative ways of driving local electrification.

Political advocacy

While energy prices are soaring, the climate crisis is worsening. A bold electrification plan can simultaneously address both issues – but we must act now. The next 12 months are critical in driving climate change action through legislation in state and federal parliaments to meet our 1.5 degree commitments.

Our current energy system, the policies, regulations and funding surrounding it, are set up for a fossil fuel world. Rewiring Australia engages in direct advocacy of state, federal and local governments pushing for ambitious climate policy and investment in electrification. This advocacy recently resulted in the Federal Government’s announcement of $1.7 billion in electrification investment in the May Budget. Over the next 12 months we will be working to influence this spending to ensure it’s designed equitably and effectively and to secure more ambitious investment in the 2023-24 Federal Budgets. This advocacy work will be supported by our research, engaging directly with experts associated with the US Inflation Reduction Act (the world’s biggest piece of climate policy) and through galvanising public support.

At a state level, Rewiring Australia’s advocacy influenced the recent announcement in Victoria to ban gas connections in new developments. Rewiring Australia will advocate for additional states to follow suit and also push for state government investment in making it easy for households to access rebates and

Research

Our advocacy and education resources are underpinned by robust data analysis. We bring together data from a diverse range of areas including detailed energy flows, economic, demographic and emissions data to build the case (and narrative) for electrification. In the next 12 months we will be collaborating with academics at ANU and UNSW to conduct modelling on electrification policy options and energy needs. At the heart of these models is ensuring that electrification is accessible, particularly for those households who have additional barriers including access to capital and renters. The modelling will be used to identify the best policy proposals and will be incorporated into Rewiring Australia’s political advocacy work and engagement with state and federal Governments.