Kiwi Gas serves about 3000 Christchurch homes.
Its owner Malcolm Ryder said he supports efforts to reduce emissions, but cutting gas will result in redundancies across the industry.
Said Ryder: "There’s going to be definitely redundancies [and] reduction in jobs, jobs across New Zealand, as a result of what they’re planning on doing. It would be significant.
"It’s not just gas suppliers, it’s gas fitters, it’s gas retailers, it’s the whole industry in general. It flows into other industries as well like, for example, the people who are transporting the LPG."
Ryder said five years is not long enough for thousands of households and businesses to switch from gas to electricity and more time is needed to prepare New Zealand’s power infrastructure for this.
The Climate Change Commission, in its draft plan for cutting the country’s emissions, has advised that it is time to cut gas.
Its plan proposes no new natural gas connections to the network or bottled LPG after 2025.
By 2050, the commission says existing natural gas in buildings should be phased out.
Terrace Tavern owner Ross Jones said his restaurant uses gas for cooking and switching to electric stoves would decrease the speed of food service and the quality of meals.
“We’ve just spent $10,000 on new cooking equipment and I’m looking at 12 gas hobs, a new, state-of-the-art, brand new system and, yeah, it’s gas. It would be a huge issue, I think.
“No chef likes cooking with electric, that’s for sure,” Jones said.
Jones said the chef he employs has not used electric stoves in a commercial kitchen since 1997.
Climate Change Commission heat, industry and power team leader Antonia Burbidge said she understands the concerns of Ryder and Jones, but LPG gas is a fossil fuel, and stopping the use of it will reduce harmful impacts on the environment.
Burbidge said people who are concerned about the effect switching from gas will have on them have the chance to give feedback during a six-week consultation period, which is now open.
She said this is an opportunity for people to suggest alternatives to reduce damage to the environment. These will be considered in the commission’s final report to the government, which will be completed by May 31.
Canterbury Employers’ Chamber of Commerce chief executive Leeann Watson said no longer being able to use gas will be challenging for businesses, but she believes they should have time to adapt by 2025.
“The biggest challenge that businesses will have is ensuring that there is cost-effective alternatives for what is being suggested, and that’s going to require a little bit of time and it’s going to require support to transition them from where they currently are now into a new way of operating.”
She said the chamber of commerce is currently gathering feedback from businesses on the effect the change could have on them and it plans to discuss this with Government officials.
