Removing your gas connection: networks must now publish the price, and from July 2028 in Victoria you pay the real cost

What two networks charge now

We read the pages of two distributors on 8 October 2026, one in each state where the Commission says abolishment costs are partly shared: Jemena Gas Networks, whose NSW network is the one in the Commission's tables, and Multinet Gas Networks in Victoria.

Jemena's page sets two prices. If the property is being demolished or renovated, an abolishment is required for safety, the cost is $1,368.54 (including GST). And: Where there is no planned building, renovation or demolition works, the cost is $284.99 (including GST). The first is about 4.8 times the second (our arithmetic). Jemena also says The Gas Abolishment cost is charged by your energy retailer, and gives its disconnection price: The cost for disconnecting the gas service is $87.05 (excluding GST).

Multinet's page says an abolishment may involve a meter removal (code METREM) and a service line abolishment (code SERABL), and that The final charges will depend on the specific works required at your property. Its 2026-27 schedule of charges lists meter removals at $85.80 and residential service abolishment at $182.60, both including GST. Together that is $268.40 (our arithmetic), a guide rather than a quote.

Prices as each distributor's own page or schedule stated them on 8 October 2026. GST treatment differs between the tiles, as labelled. These are distributor charges; your retailer may add its own.

Disconnect or abolish: what stays behind

The rule's definitions turn on one question: is the connection still there? A disconnection does not involve removal of the connection and can be reversed without a new one. An abolishment is a service for the removal of a connection. Multinet's page puts the difference for a household plainly. After a standard disconnection, live gas remains within the service line inside the property boundary; after an abolishment, the service line is cut and capped, usually in the street at the gas main, ensuring no live gas remains inside the property line.

Disconnection

Reversible without a new connection. Jemena says the retailer stops charging supply fees once it is done.

Abolishment

Getting gas back means a new connection. Jemena says the service pipe on your side remains on the property, because it is considered consumer-owned.

Jemena's advice on which to choose: a temporary disconnection may be the better option if you want to keep the option of gas in future, while abolishment is for when you no longer want gas or are renovating or demolishing. It also says the disconnected pipe from the street keeps gas in it, so care should be taken when carrying out any digging or earthworks.

Who pays the gap today

The price on those pages is not, in every case, the full cost of the job. The Commission's determination explains that in some recent decisions the Australian Energy Regulator required customers abolishing their connection to pay a tariff closer to the disconnection tariff. The difference between the two charges was recovered from remaining network users, i.e. socialised. It adds: As this was only done for distributors in Victoria and NSW, the new rule will mean no change to cost recovery for many customers.

Its table of what that sharing costs, from the regulator's own decisions, puts the regulator's estimate for each network's current five-year period at $29.1 million for AGN Victoria (2.3 per cent of its revenue requirement), $14.5 million for AusNet (1.2 per cent) and $33.5 million for Multinet (3.1 per cent), all in 2022-23 dollars, and $12.7 million for the NSW network (0.4 per cent) in 2024-25 dollars. In both states it applies to standard residential abolishments, excluding knock-down rebuilds and renovations. Jemena's higher price is for the demolition and renovation case, the category the table leaves out. The Commission records that the sharing of Jemena's standard residential non-construction abolishment charges was due to commence on 1 July 2026.

Multinet (Vic)3.1% AGN Victoria2.3% AusNet (Vic)1.2% NSW network0.4%

Source: AEMC final determination, Table 3.2 (pp. 41 to 42), drawing on AER access arrangement final decisions. Dollar estimates are in real 2022-23 dollars for the Victorian networks and real 2024-25 dollars for NSW, so they are not added across states. The Commission's table says SA's figure was not reported and that the AER's draft decision required no sharing of Evoenergy's charges in the ACT.

The regulator itself did not defend the arrangement as permanent. The Commission quotes it directly:

can only be an interim approach while governments, networks, market bodies and investors develop a long term strategy for taking gas networks forward

The AER, as quoted in the AEMC final determination, p. 33

The Commission's reasoning for ending it is about who is left behind. Those still on gas are also likely to comprise consumers who face barriers to switch away from gas, and it says making them cross-subsidise those leaving is likely to give rise to inequities. It cites AEMO's east coast projection that residential and commercial demand on the gas distribution networks will fall by around 80 per cent over the next 20 years.

When it changes, network by network

The rule's key obligations start at each network's next access arrangement period, the five-year price period the regulator sets. Before then, each network must put a model offer for a basic abolishment service to the regulator for approval. Applications made before a network's start date stay under the old arrangements, the determination says, and applications made from that date fall under the new framework.

1. 2 April 2026The AEMC makes the final gas and retail rules.
2. 1 July 2026Sharing of Jemena's standard residential non-construction abolishment charges was due to commence, as the Commission records it.
3. 1 October 2026Distributors must publish their disconnection and abolishment information, including charges, and answer customer enquiries.
4. 18 January 2027Retailers in the ACT, NSW, South Australia and Queensland must give brief, general information when you end a gas contract or ask about these services, and point you to the distributor.
5. 1 June 2027Victorian networks' review submission date: their basic abolishment offers go to the AER by then.
6. 1 July 2028Victoria: the full framework, including cost-reflective charges, starts.
7. 30 June 2029NSW network's review submission date.
8. 1 July 2030NSW: the full framework starts.
9. 1 July 2031ACT and South Australia: the full framework starts.

Dates from the AEMC final determination (p. vii and Table 3.1, p. 40), the final retail rule's transitional provisions, and the Commission's account of Jemena's submission (p. 41).

Two groups sit outside. The new framework does not apply in Western Australia. In Queensland, the determination says two non-scheme networks named by the state government for the connection rules will not automatically be covered by this one; a new regulation would be needed. And the retailer duty above is in the national retail rules, which Victoria has not adopted for gas; the determination lists the ACT, NSW, South Australia and Queensland as the jurisdictions where it applies.

Our view

This is opinion, built on the documents above. The publication duty is the part that helps a household today, and Jemena's page shows what it should look like: both prices, in dollars, with GST stated, and a plain account of what each service leaves behind. The Commission itself found a significant degree of confusion amongst retail customers about the options available to cease having gas supplied to their premises that needs to be addressed.

The charging change is fairer to the people who cannot leave, and the Commission is right that a shrinking network cannot keep spreading these costs. But it has a known side effect, which the Commission names itself: higher abolishment prices may push people toward the cheaper option, a disconnection, or simply ending their retail contract. That leaves dormant connections, and the cost of abolishing those later for safety, it says, is unlikely to fall on the customer who left and would instead be borne by remaining customers. The rule moves the subsidy from one door to another unless governments act, and the Commission says complementary government measures are likely to be required.

For a household on a Victorian or NSW network that is sure it is finished with gas, the practical reading is simple. A standard abolishment is priced below its real cost on those networks until the switch, on the Commission's own account of how the shared tariff works, and an application made before the switch is dealt with under the old arrangements. Ask your retailer for the distributor's charge in writing, and do not leave a disconnected pipe full of gas under a garden you plan to dig.