Rewiring Australia: Electrifying Everything Advocacy
Electrifying hearts and minds (and wallets).
Rewiring Australia is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit dedicated to accelerating the transition to a clean energy system based on the electrification of everything. We work to show the economic and environmental benefits of electrifying our homes, businesses and economies. We push to do two things well that are rarely done together. We do research and analysis alongside the critical storytelling and communications required to build trust. Rewiring Australia partners with like-minded organisations pushing for a faster and fairer energy transition in order to get the best climate outcome for our children.
There are four focus areas for our work: policy, regulatory, community, and finance.
Our policy work is about moving the largest possible levers of government by embedding climate action in federal budgets and tax law. We are very proud of our sister organisation - Rewiring America's - work on the US Inflation Reduction Act.
A new energy system requires a new regulatory framework. We propose and advocate for regulatory environments that will lower the cost of energy, simplify energy for the consumer, and more broadly share the benefits of this transition. Our regulatory goal can be summed up by the phrase ‘grid neutrality’. Grid neutrality is the idea that everyone's homes and vehicles are part of the national energy infrastructure and they should be able to participate as equals to the corporations and owners of traditional infrastructure in the exchange of electricity.
Our community work is two-fold. This energy transition has to roll out in every community in Australia, and that represents a huge opportunity for public education to counter the fear campaigns of the fossil fuel lobby. We champion the idea of pilot communities that move a little bit faster and share their learnings on how to do a better job of electrification for everyone.
Ultimately this switch from fossil fuels to clean electrification is the switch from fuels to finance. Fossil fuel-burning machines are sometimes cheaper to purchase but they require more expensive fuels ongoing and into the future. The all-electric machines that will replace them are sometimes a little more expensive but the ongoing cost of electricity is far lower than that of burning fossil fuels. When you buy a rooftop solar system you purchasing 20 years of cheap solar energy in advance. This makes finance perhaps the most critical element of this energy transition. How do we make sure everyone has access to the finance they need to get to zero emissions and lower their energy bills?
Australia has access to the cheapest clean energy delivered to a consumer anywhere in the world - rooftop solar. This abundant energy can be a core component of our energy transition and create a fairer future where all Australians can save money, improve health and reduce fossil fuel emissions. We believe in an electrified future where every household saves money, the national economy benefits, and we create the clean industries of the future to support the rest of the world in their inevitable electrification. It is Australia’s moment to shine on the international stage in the race to zero.
Rewiring Australia has already reached millions of Australians with our work, and we will continue to provide practical solutions to help communities on the ground electrify everything.
In 2024 our core focus will be:
Advocating for the largest possible investment by the government in money-saving demand side electrification.
Agitating for wholesale reform of our electricity market and its regulatory bodies, not just to give Australian households a seat at the table, but to make them the head of the table. Successful regulatory reform will prioritise lowering the cost of energy for Australian households while increasing system reliability and resilience.
Accelerating our work in our first pilot community, 2515, while supporting 10 new communities to follow along, all the while building support and leadership in every community in Australia so we can deliver this energy transition with the fewest headaches, local support, and the best ideas.
Modelling the national energy system, both supply and demand, to build optimised models of decarbonisation and electricity networks. Unconstrained by vested interests we will be able to model and share what success would look like. We will be looking at households, the commercial sector, and industry.
Demonstrating that Australia has now passed through an economic transition whereby full electrification as fast as possible is the best economic pathway for the country - the investment pays for itself and in fact lowers the cost of energy and saves us hundreds of billions of dollars as a nation.
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Dr Saul Griffith, Co-founder, Rewiring Australia