Sparking change in residential electrification in Victoria: The role of local government

Decarbonising residential buildings is a central challenge in energy transitions and requires improving energy efficiency and shifting away from fossil fuels. How local governments can influence residential fuel choice without direct authority over energy markets and how their initiatives can shape subsequent higher-level regulation remain less understood. This paper examines Victoria, Australia, where long-standing fossil gas dependence rapidly shifted to all-electric residential development, culminating in a 2024 ban on new gas connections despite limited national leadership. The study draws on analysis of 27 policy documents and 26 semi-structured interviews with local and state government representatives, planners, developers, builders and advocacy organisations. Local governments reframed fossil gas as a climate and planning problem, using land-use policy to normalise all-electric housing. This demonstrated electrification's feasibility and helped enable subsequent state-level reform. The study identifies land-use planning as an indirect form of energy governance through which local governments can shape residential fuel choice despite lacking direct control over energy markets. It provides a planning-mediated account of how locally developed practices can contribute to wider energy-transition policy change.