While gas is widely used in Australian homes, phasing it out is essential to meet Australia's' climate targets. It is likely that gas networks will shrink and eventually become largely redundant as households switch to electric only. This report explores people's attitudes towards gas network pruning (strategic decommissioning). It focuses on households facing barriers to electrification and finds generally positive attitudes to the idea of repurposing gas pipeline expenditure for local area electrification. Specifics about who would pay and what would happen if people declined electrification elicited mixed responses. 

The report recommends governments and regulators develop and implement pruning, prioritising fully funded upgrades for low-income households. It suggests funding for these upgrades should come at least partly from avoided gas replacement spending. If this increases the cost above business as usual, government should fund the gap to avoid increasing the burden on remaining gas users. The report argues implementing pruning could make the gas transition cheaper and fairer by lowering its overall cost and shifting the cost away from households facing disadvantage.