Interactive explainer
Should you connect gas, and what will it cost?
Tell us what you would run on gas and your state, and the tool gives you a connect-or-skip steer, an indicative annual cost (the daily supply charge plus usage), and the connection steps. It is built around the thing people forget: the supply charge you pay every day regardless of usage.
Connect gas, or go without?
Indicative only. Confirm the address even has a gas main, and always compare current plans before you commit.
The steer
to $$0
Indicative first-year gas cost: supply charge plus usage.
The steer compares your gas usage against the fixed daily supply charge: a light load means the standing charge dominates, so skipping or going all-electric often wins. Gas has no price cap, so where you can choose a retailer, comparing matters more than for electricity.
Assumptions: supply charge ~70 cents to $1 a day (about $300 a year); cooktop usage is small, hot water moderate, heating large; WA has no retail gas competition outside Perth; Tasmania and the NT have very limited residential gas. Indicative 2026 figures. Sources: AER, state energy regulators, retailer published rates 2026.
| Gas load | Connect or skip? | Indicative annual cost | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| No gas appliances | Skip the connection | ~$0 | Nothing to run on gas means the supply charge is pure dead cost; go all-electric. |
| Cooktop only | Borderline, lean to skip | $330 to $480 | A cooktop burns very little gas, so the daily supply charge dominates the bill. |
| Cooktop + hot water | Worth keeping | $700 to $1,100 | Hot water is a real gas load, so usage starts to justify the standing charge. |
| Heating + hot water + cooktop | Keep, and compare retailers | $1,000 to $1,800 | A full gas home; usage is high, so the supply charge is a smaller share. |
The short answer
What connecting gas at a new home really involves
When you move into a new Australian home, the gas question usually gets framed as which gas plan to pick. That is the wrong place to start. The first question is whether to connect gas at all, because gas comes with a fixed daily supply charge you pay every day of the year whether you burn a lot or barely touch it. New homes are increasingly built all-electric, several councils and states are phasing new gas connections out, and gas is only piped to certain states in the first place. So for a light user, perhaps one gas cooktop, the standing charge can quietly cost more across a year than the gas itself ever saves. If you decide gas does earn its keep, a move is the moment to compare retailers, because gas has no price cap the way electricity has its reference offers, and to budget any connection or reconnection fee and the lead time. This page works through that decision, then the connection itself.
Here is the core takeaway in one line: connecting gas is a yes-or-no decision before it is a which-plan decision, because the fixed daily supply charge means gas can cost a light user more than it ever saves. That reframes the move. If the home is all-electric, there is nothing to connect and nothing to pay. If gas only feeds a cooktop, skipping it may be the cheaper home. If gas does heating and hot water, it earns its standing charge, and then the job is to compare retailers and budget the connection fee and lead time.
Reframe the assumption: gas is not a free utility you simply switch on, it is a daily fixed cost you carry every day of the year. So before you pick a plan, decide whether your gas appliances do enough work to be worth that daily charge, then, only if they do, compare retailers (gas has no price cap) and budget the connection fee and the business-day lead time.
The blind spot
Where the standing charge hides inside a gas decision
Most "connect gas when you move" guides skip straight to picking a plan, and each shortcut leaves you paying for a connection you may not need.
First, they assume gas is a given. They tell you to call a retailer and book a connection, as if every home needs gas. Many new Australian homes are built all-electric on purpose, and some states have moved to stop new homes connecting to gas at all, so for a growing share of movers the right answer is no gas connection rather than a cheaper gas plan.
Second, they fixate on the usage rate and ignore the supply charge. The advice is to find a low cents-per-megajoule rate, but for a light user that is the wrong number. The fixed daily supply charge, paid every day whether you use gas or not, is the bigger share of a small bill, so a cooktop-only home can pay hundreds a year mostly in standing charges for very little actual gas.
Third, they treat gas like electricity. They imply a regulated safety-net price protects you. It does not, because gas has no price cap the way electricity has its reference offers, so a default gas plan can drift well above a sharp one with nothing capping it, and in Western Australia outside Perth there is no retail competition to shop at all.
How a gas connection actually works, piece by piece
Expert analysis: the real economics of connecting gas
The supply charge is the cost most people forget
A gas bill has two parts: a fixed daily supply charge for being connected, and usage charges for the gas you burn, measured in megajoules (MJ). The supply charge runs in the order of 70 cents to $1 a day, roughly $250 to $360 a year, and you pay it every single day whether you cook one meal or run gas heating all winter. For a heavy gas household it is a small slice of a big bill. For a light user it is most of the bill, which is why a single gas cooktop, burning almost nothing, is so often a poor deal: you are paying a year-round access fee for a sliver of usage.
All-electric is increasingly the default, and sometimes the rule
The market is moving away from gas. New homes are increasingly built all-electric, with electric induction cooktops, heat-pump hot water and reverse-cycle heating that are efficient enough to make a separate gas connection hard to justify. On top of consumer choice, several jurisdictions have acted to stop new homes connecting to gas, Victoria most prominently. So when you move, the home may simply have no gas main, or it may be a recent build designed never to need one. The first thing to confirm is whether the address even has a gas connection before you plan around it.
Gas has no price cap, so the move is the moment to compare
Electricity has a regulated reference price, the Default Market Offer set by the Australian Energy Regulator (AER) and the Victorian Default Offer, that caps the standing offer and gives you a benchmark to compare against. Gas has no equivalent cap. Nothing regulated stops a lazy default gas plan from sitting well above a competitive one, so the spread you can save by comparing is wider, and the cost of never comparing is higher. In the deregulated states you can switch retailers freely, which makes a move, when you are setting up the account anyway, the natural time to shop.
Connection fees, reconnection and the business-day lead time
If the home is already on the gas main and just needs the supply turned on in your name, you pay a modest connection or reconnection fee, often in the order of $15 to $60, usually done within a business day or two. A genuinely new connection to a home that has never had gas is a far bigger job, running into the hundreds or thousands and taking much longer, another reason all-electric builds win. Gas can generally only be connected on business days, not weekends or public holidays, so a move that lands on a Friday or a long weekend needs extra lead time. Contact your retailer at least five business days ahead, with the address, your move-in date and the date you want gas live.
What this looks like in real moves
How Australians overpay on a gas connection
The economics above are not abstract. They are exactly how households end up paying for gas they did not need:
The cooktop that cost hundreds in standing charges
A renter connects gas for a single cooktop because the home had a gas point, then pays the daily supply charge all year for a few dollars of actual cooking gas. An induction or electric cooktop on the existing power supply would have cost nothing extra to run and skipped the connection entirely.
The default plan with no cap above it
A household sets up gas with whatever plan the retailer offered at move-in and never looks again. With no reference price capping gas, the plan drifts well above a competitive offer, and because they assumed a safety net existed the way it does for electricity, they overpay quietly for years.
The WA mover expecting to shop around
Someone moving to regional Western Australia plans to compare gas retailers like they would electricity, then finds there is no retail gas competition outside Perth, so there is nothing to switch to. The lesson lands late: gas markets are not uniform across the country.
The Friday move with no gas on
A family books a connection for moving day, a Saturday, not realising gas is only connected on business days. They arrive to no hot water and wait until the following week, when contacting the retailer five business days ahead would have had it live on arrival.
The insider insight
The cheapest gas plan can still lose to no gas at all
Here is the part most connection guides never put plainly. You can find the sharpest gas plan in your state and still be worse off than the neighbour who never connected, because the daily supply charge is a cost the best usage rate cannot undo. For a light user the comparison that matters is not gas plan A versus gas plan B, it is gas versus no gas: an all-electric setup carries no gas supply charge at all, and modern electric appliances are efficient enough that the gas you would have burned is small. The retailers will happily sell you a connection and a plan, because the standing charge is revenue whether you use the gas or not.
The non-obvious truth: the gas supply charge is a subscription, not a usage cost, so the right question is whether your gas appliances do enough work to be worth the subscription. The households that pay least are not the ones who found the cheapest gas plan, they are the ones who first decided whether to connect gas at all, and only kept it where heating or hot water made the daily charge pay for itself.
The practical consequence: do not start by comparing gas plans. Start by deciding whether to connect gas, weigh an all-electric setup if you have the choice, and only once gas clearly earns its standing charge should you move on to comparing retailers, because that is where the cap-free spread is.
Grounded in the analysis
What you should actually do about gas when you move
Specific moves that follow from how gas is priced, not generic advice.
Decide connect or skip first
Check which appliances are actually gas, and whether the home even has a gas main. If it is all-electric, or gas only feeds a cooktop, seriously weigh going without, because the daily supply charge can cost a light user more than the gas ever saves.
If you keep gas, compare retailers
Gas has no price cap, so a default plan can drift high with nothing to stop it. In the deregulated states, compare current plans on both the supply charge and the usage rate before you commit. In WA outside Perth there is no choice to make.
Budget the fee and the lead time
Ask about the connection or reconnection fee and book early. Gas is only connected on business days, so contact your retailer at least five business days ahead with the address, move-in date and the date you want gas live.
Sorting the wider move? Use our moving checklist, line up the rest of your utility connections, and compare energy plans for your new address.
Current figures, last updated 2026-06-16
Indicative Australian residential gas figures for 2026. Sources: the Australian Energy Regulator (AER), state energy regulators and retailer published rates 2026. Gas costs vary widely by state, plan, climate and usage, so treat every figure as a ballpark and compare current plans for your address.
The bottom line
Why the connect-or-skip question comes before the plan
Connecting gas when you move is genuinely simple once the home is on the main, but the real decision sits before the phone call: does gas do enough work to earn its fixed daily supply charge? For an all-electric home or a cooktop-only one, the cheapest answer is often no gas at all. Where gas heats your water and your rooms, it earns its keep, and then the job is to compare retailers, because gas has no price cap to protect you, and to budget the connection fee and the business-day lead time. With new homes going all-electric and gas being wound back, the movers who pay least in 2026 are the ones who ask whether to connect gas first, and pick a plan second.
Common questions
A Selectra expert answers your gas connection questions
Start with what actually runs on gas. If the home is all-electric, there is nothing to connect and nothing to decide. If gas only feeds a cooktop, connecting is often a poor deal, because you pay a fixed daily supply charge every day of the year and a cooktop burns so little gas that the standing charge can cost more than the gas saves. Gas earns its keep once it does real work: gas hot water, and especially gas heating through a cold-climate winter, are loads big enough to justify the daily charge. Check which appliances are gas before you move, and if you have the choice, weigh whether an all-electric setup is cheaper overall.
The supply charge is a fixed daily fee for being connected to the gas network, charged every day regardless of how much gas you use. It typically runs around 70 cents to $1 a day, which is roughly $250 to $360 a year before you burn a single megajoule. For a heavy gas household that is a small slice of the bill. For a light user it is most of the bill, which is exactly why a single gas cooktop is often not worth connecting. When you compare gas plans, look at the supply charge as hard as the usage rate, because for a low user the supply charge is the number that decides the total.
No. Reticulated (piped) natural gas reaches certain states and the built-up parts of their cities, mainly the eastern states, South Australia and parts of Western Australia, while many regional and remote areas have no gas main at all and rely on electricity or bottled LPG. The Northern Territory and Tasmania have very limited residential gas. On top of geography, gas is being wound back: several jurisdictions, Victoria most notably, have moved to stop new homes connecting to gas, so a brand-new build may be all-electric by design. Always confirm whether the specific address even has a gas connection before you plan around it.
In the deregulated states you can choose your gas retailer and switch freely, so a move is a good moment to compare. The catch most people miss is that gas has no price-capped safety-net offer the way electricity does. Electricity has a regulated reference price (the Default Market Offer, and the Victorian Default Offer) that caps the standing offer and gives you a benchmark. Gas has no equivalent cap, so the spread between a sharp plan and a lazy default can be wide, and there is no regulated ceiling protecting you if you never compare. Western Australia is the standout exception: there is no retail gas competition there except within Perth, so most WA households cannot shop around at all.
If the property is already connected to the gas main and just needs the supply turned on in your name, you usually pay a connection or reconnection fee in the order of $15 to $60, and it is often handled within a business day or two. A brand-new connection to a home that has never had gas is a different and far larger job, running into the hundreds or thousands of dollars and taking much longer, which is one more reason all-electric new builds are winning. Gas work can generally only be scheduled on business days, not weekends or public holidays, so contact your retailer several business days before your move-in date.
Contact your chosen retailer at least five business days before you move in, and give them the new address, your move-in date and the date you want gas live. Remember gas can only be connected on business days, so a Friday or Monday move can need extra lead time. If you are moving within Australia, also arrange to disconnect gas at your old address the day after you leave, so you are not billed for a property you have vacated. And take a photo of the meter reading at both homes on the day, so your first bill can be checked against it.
