Just like Bob Dylan in the new biopic about his famous Newport Folk Festival appearance, Victoria faces the choice between embracing the possibilities of an electric future or shrinking back from change.

Just like Dylan, there are haters with vested interests clinging to old ways of doing things.

While the Victorian government tries to progress a transition from dirty gas to an electric grid powered by renewable energy, the gas industry claims the sky is falling.

In December, the Victorian government announced plans to mandate electricity over gas in new properties and encourage replacing gas with electric appliances in homes.

Last month, it followed this with a bill to embed and strengthen the Victorian Energy Upgrades scheme as a permanent part of our energy system.

These reforms are welcome steps. Importantly, they include stronger consumer protections and enhanced powers for the Essential Services Commission to act against dodgy operators and abuse of the system.

However, the gas industry has hit back with a scare campaign and media blitz featuring biased research and false claims around higher energy costs and “green” gas aimed at spooking community members and local MPs before a state election.

It is understandable that big business will muddy the waters when its profits are at risk. But it is disappointing to see companies spreading misinformation at the expense of Victorians in a cost-of-living crisis.

The big truth that the gas industry doesn’t want Victorians to know is that the era of cheap gas is over. In 2022 alone, the cost of gas almost tripled. A household can pay as much as $280 a year just to stay connected.

According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, the average Victorian home could save $1200 a year on its energy bills. Victorians could save a collective $912 million in locked-in costs each year when gas appliances are switched for efficient electric alternatives at the time of replacement.

Gas is also bad for our health and bad for our climate. The Grattan Institute says gas makes up 22 per cent of Australia’s emissions, not including “fugitive emissions”, which are largely unrecorded. Peer-reviewed research has shown gas appliances can produce and release health-damaging air pollutants like nitrogen oxides into homes.

To realise the benefits of getting off gas, low-income households and renters need targeted rebates and support. We need to see more action from the Victorian government on both these fronts in the next 12 months.

Research has shown that while low-income households often stand to enjoy the biggest savings from energy upgrades, the upfront cost is often a barrier too high for them to overcome. Forcing people to take on debt or go without heating is not a safe or acceptable way forward. Struggling households need financial help to access the benefits of electrification.

And Victoria’s three million renters deserve to be protected by minimum energy-efficiency standards in tenancy laws. These standards must motivate landlords to replace gas with efficient electric appliances in rental properties.

Together, these measures will ensure that no one is left behind. They will support other measures, such as investments in the Solar Homes and Apartments programs, the existing Victorian Energy Upgrades Program and large-scale solar and battery investments by the revived State Electricity Commission.

If Victoria can hold its nerve, we will take big steps towards an energy future that is cheaper, healthier and cleaner for all of us.

Victorian households once relied on burning wood or coal briquettes for heat. But that era ended, and we moved to cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

Folk musicians once derided electric guitars as a passing fad that wouldn’t take off. Bob Dylan changed that story when he boldly “went electric” at Newport in 1965.

We face a similar test in our transition from total reliance on fossil fuels to a new energy mix.

It’s time to embrace our electric future – and to make sure it’s a future where all Victorians benefit from cheaper, healthier, renewable energy.

Juanita Pope is CEO of the Victorian Council of Social Service, the peak body for Victoria’s social and community sector