Guidance, not advice. General information only — rebates and STC values change regularly. Confirm current eligibility with the CER, state program sites or an accredited installer, and check major work with your state plumbing/electrical regulator. As at May 2026.
"Getting off gas" is a fast-growing job, but it confuses people — starting with the word "heat pump" itself. Here is the plain-English version.
Jargon check — which "heat pump"?
In Australia, "heat pump" usually means a heat-pump hot water system (HWS) — not a reverse-cycle air conditioner, even though both are technically heat pumps. Rule of thumb: when a plumber says "heat pump" they mean the hot-water unit; when an HVAC tech says "heat pump" they mean reverse-cycle air con.
Electrifying off gas — the three big loads
Treat going all-electric as a project with three decisions:
- Hot water — a heat-pump HWS (vs resistive electric storage or instantaneous). Heat-pump HWS is usually preferred: much lower running cost and much lower electrical demand than resistive. It sits outside on a slab or wall brackets, often near the old gas unit.
- Space heating and cooling — a reverse-cycle split or ducted system is the main "heat pump" for heating (see HVAC & Refrigeration). For existing gas ducted heating you either swap in an electric heat-pump ducted unit (where viable) or decommission the ducts and fit multiple splits.
- Cooking — gas cooktop to induction. Many households switch for indoor air quality as much as for energy or climate reasons.
Who does what — plumber vs electrician
This is the big confusion point, and most off-gas jobs need both trades:
- The plumber/gasfitter decommissions the gas HWS and gas lines, installs the heat-pump HWS (water pipework, valves, tempering valve, pressure relief, condensate drain), and caps or removes gas points and handles the gas compliance — often supplying the unit as a package (see Plumber & Gasfitter).
- The electrician runs new circuits and upgrades the switchboard if needed, connects power to the heat-pump HWS (often a dedicated circuit), wires reverse-cycle units (with a licensed HVAC tech where refrigerant lines are involved), installs the induction cooktop (often rewiring from a 10A plug to a hard-wired higher-amp circuit), and may set up controlled-load tariffs and timers (see Electrician).
A full off-gas conversion needs a coordinated plan — sequence, a power-capacity check, and gas-meter removal at the end.
Rebates and STCs (layers — check the status)
Support comes in layers, and you should be explicit about whether each is announced or actually open:
- STCs — many heat-pump (and solar) hot-water systems are STC-eligible under the SRES, with the value usually taken off the upfront price by the installer; it varies with efficiency, climate zone and the STC market price (see Solar Rebates: STCs & State Schemes).
- State/territory schemes — may add upfront discounts on supply-and-install, top-ups for replacing gas, or low-interest/on-bill financing, often via an approved-product list and approved installers. Treat these at a framework level and send customers to the official site, because they open, change and close with budgets.
Why the work is growing
- Bills — dropping the gas daily supply charge onto a single electricity bill, and pairing heat-pump loads with solar and time-of-use tariffs.
- Comfort — reverse-cycle does heating and cooling in one, with finer control than legacy gas.
- Health and safety — removing combustion appliances (gas cooktops, unflued heaters) lowers gas-leak and carbon-monoxide risk.
- Policy — federal and state decarbonisation targets keep funding electrification, and many new estates and apartments are designed "all-electric only", normalising it.
Common mistakes
- Quoting a gas-to-heat-pump HWS swap as one trade — it's almost always both plumber and electrician.
- Forgetting the power-capacity check before adding heat-pump HWS, reverse-cycle and induction loads at once.
- Promising a state rebate that has closed or changed, or treating an STC value as fixed.
- Leaving gas-meter removal and gas compliance off the plan.
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