Proposed new City of Sydney Council planning rules will require new residential buildings, large commercial buildings and hotels in the local government area to be all electric by 1 January 2027, the Council has announced.
The changes kick off on 1 January 2026, when new residential developments will need to ensure their indoor appliances (cooking and heating) are electric, the Council says.
In addition, the Council will place a suite of broader proposals on public exhibition shortly. These will add outdoor appliances (heaters) to the electrification rules for new residential developments as well as require new large commercial buildings and hotels to be all electric from 1 January 2027.
The move follows the Council’s exploration of the benefits and challenges of building all-electric buildings in an effort to create healthier homes and ease cost-of-living pressures, said Lord Mayor, Clover Moore AO.
“Relying on fossil fuel gas is bad for the planet, bad for our finances and bad for our health. Ensuring all-electric buildings into the future is simply a logical next step to take,” the Lord Mayor said.
“These changes will create healthier and more energy-efficient buildings which will meet future energy standards and avoid expensive retrofitting.
“They also spare households from being locked into increasingly expensive gas prices and potential shortages.”
With gas prices forecast to keep increasing due to network charges, each new household would save around $626 a year in energy bills in an electrified development, the Lord Mayor said.
In drafting both proposals, the Council says it consulted with community, industry and peak bodies to develop the best approach.
The wider proposal means that development applications for all new residential developments and large commercial developments will be gas free from 1 January 2027 if they’re adopted by Council after the exhibition period.
And new residential developments will have to use electric cooktops, ovens and space heating from 1 January 2026; while larger commercial developments include new tourist accommodation with more than 100 rooms and large commercial buildings of more than 1,000 square metres of floor space.
The move aligns with the NSW Sustainability State Environmental Planning Policy which encourages the design and delivery of sustainable buildings.
The new rules won’t apply to industrial uses or existing buildings.
Where a mixed-use development is affected by the planning controls, any food and beverage premises within the development are still able to use gas, provided there is capacity for electrification in the future, the Council confirmed.
Following Council endorsement, the commercial building proposals will be open for public comment from 30 June to 28 July 2025.
