Gas to Electric Heating Rebate in Victoria (2026 Guide)

The activity most people mean when they ask about a gas to electric heating rebate is the replacement of a ducted gas heater with reverse cycle air conditioning. Victorian Energy Upgrades supports it because the efficiency difference between the two is large and measurable, which is exactly what a certificate based scheme is built to reward.

A gas heater burns fuel to make heat, and a good modern unit converts roughly 80 to 92 percent of the fuel into useful warmth. Reverse cycle does not make heat at all, it moves it, which is why it delivers roughly 3 to 4 units of heat for every unit of electricity it consumes. That is a fundamentally different machine doing the same job, and the program pays for the difference.

In practice the changeover takes one of two shapes. Either a ducted reverse cycle system replaces the gas furnace and reuses or replaces the ductwork, or the house moves to split systems in the rooms that are actually used. Both can be eligible activities. Which one suits your house is a separate question to which one attracts more support, and it is worth answering in that order.

The program is specific about what it will pay for, and the specificity is where most confusion starts. The activity is defined partly by what is being removed, not only by what is being installed.

This is not a rebate you claim and wait for. Nothing is reimbursed, nothing arrives in your bank account, and there is no form for you to lodge with a department. The discount is applied to the installation invoice before you pay it.

The mechanism behind it is a certificate. When an accredited provider installs an eligible upgrade, certificates are created based on the modelled energy saved by that specific activity at that specific property. Those certificates are sold into a market, and the proceeds fund the discount that appears on your invoice. The installer carries the paperwork and the market risk, and you see a reduced price.

The practical consequence is that you should be able to read the discount on the quote as a line item, dated, with a net amount payable underneath it. If a quote mentions a rebate in general terms without showing it as a figure against the total, ask for the figure. A verbal rebate is not a rebate.

It also means the discount is bound to the job being done properly. Certificates are only created when the activity is completed and documented to the program requirements, including decommissioning the old appliance. Cutting corners on that paperwork is not a shortcut, it is how a discount fails to materialise.

We will not quote a fixed dollar figure for this upgrade on a website, and no honest contractor should. That is not evasiveness, it is a description of how the scheme works. Four things move the number.

The rebate is the easy part. The physical work is where the planning matters, and it is where quotes most often differ without appearing to.

The assessment covers what is there now. On a ducted changeover we look at the condition of the existing ductwork and whether it is suitable for reverse cycle airflow, the return air path, where an outdoor unit can sit with clearance and without annoying a neighbour, the indoor unit location, and the switchboard. Ducted reverse cycle is a larger electrical load than a gas furnace with a fan, which is why the board and the supply get checked properly rather than assumed. The ducted air conditioning cost guide sets out what that scope costs.

If the house is being split into zones with individual units instead, the assessment is simpler and the cost is lower. Sizing each room properly matters more than brand, and the split system installation cost guide covers what drives the price. Many households in the older parts of Yarraville and Newport end up here, because retrofitting ducts into a period house is expensive and heating three rooms well beats heating seven badly.

On the day, decommissioning the gas appliance is part of the job, not an afterthought. If the gas heater was the last gas appliance in the house, that is also the moment to think about whether you want to keep paying a daily supply charge for a connection you no longer use. A Certificate of Electrical Safety is issued for the electrical work on completion.

The discount changes the purchase price once. Running cost changes the bill every winter, and it is usually the larger number over the life of the system.

Heating a room with a reverse cycle split costs roughly 28 to 36 cents an hour. The same room heated by ducted gas costs roughly 50 to 72 cents an hour. Across a Melbourne winter that difference works out at roughly $200 to $450 a year for a typical household, and more if the gas system is old or the ducts leak.

The saving grows if you have solar. Reverse cycle running on daytime generation costs close to nothing, which is a real advantage over gas because gas cannot use your panels. That interaction is worth understanding before sizing anything, and the feed-in tariff guide explains why self-consumption is now where solar value sits.

For a broader look at where the winter bill actually goes and what to change first, the winter heating bills guide works through it in order of cost.

Ask every installer the same four questions. Is the product I am being quoted on the program register. Is the discount shown as a figure on the quote or described verbally. Who lodges the paperwork and when. What happens to my price if the certificate value moves between quote and installation.

A provider who answers those four cleanly and in writing is a provider whose number will survive contact with the program. One who cannot is quoting you a hope. The other thing worth checking is whether switchboard work has been priced or quietly assumed away, because no program pays for it and it is the most common reason a final invoice exceeds expectations.

Pivot Trade Services holds REC 37223 and SAA accreditation S3962281, ABN 87 689 296 937, and installs across Melbourne west from Altona. Every installation carries a 12 month workmanship guarantee on top of the manufacturer warranty. To get the current figure for your property, contact us or call 0401 500 446 or 1300 748 688.

Program values and eligibility change, sometimes with little notice, and must be confirmed with the program administrator at the time you commit. Nothing on this page is a quote. The written quote is the accurate figure.