When Steven Secker's hot water heater broke he felt backed into a corner.

The pensioner had been using a solar system, but said when it started leaking into his ceiling he didn't have the money to pay for a new one.

"It's the up-front cost which is the sticking point because to put in a solar-powered storage hot water system, which I'd like to do, was running around $3,000, $3,500," he said.

"And as a pensioner I don't have that income."

With a growing push for households to electrify their appliances and move away from gas, social services warn people like Mr Secker could be left behind in any transition.

That's because while electric appliances can be cheaper than gas in the long run, the up-front costs of buying and installing them are often higher.

It's left services calling for government support to both make households greener and reduce cost-of-living pressures.

Removing gas from homes critical to net zero: Grattan

Recent analysis from the Grattan Institute found getting households off gas would be critical to Australia reaching net-zero emissions by 2050. 

It called on state and federal governments to set an end date for gas, ban new connections and support some households to replace their appliances with electric ones.

The institute's report said while large gas emitters will be required to reduce their emissions under the federal government's much-debated safeguard mechanism, there were few efforts to reduce emissions by homes and small businesses.

Grattan's analysis found carbon emissions from gas accounted for around 22 per cent of Australia's overall emissions, with households and small business accounting for 24 per cent of the nation's gas use.

And it said those emissions would be stubborn to move unless action was taken soon.

"Assets that use gas tend to be replaced only when they reach the end of their useful life," the report read.

The institute's analysis found over 10 years, households in capital cities could save up to $13,900 by switching to electricity – with Perth the only place where homes could end up paying slightly more for electric appliances because of how cheap WA's gas is.

Plumbers say demand for gas still high

Despite the benefits of switching offered by its critics, Zoe Manifis from Majestic Plumbing in Perth said demand for gas was not slowing, with many seeing it as the most cost-effective solution.

"We are seeing consumers are choosing gas installation over electric, a lot more installation for gas hot water systems and gas bayonets for heating," she said.

"We're also seeing a rising trend for the installation of gas bayonets for outdoor kitchens, barbecues, as well as fireplaces for entertaining as well."

While apartment buildings and complexes were more likely to adopt electric hot water systems, for example, gas was still the most popular option for many, she said.

"Customers are finding that with the rising trends for greener energies and technologies, with the uptake of solar panels, that there is that option there [to go electric] … but a lot of the time people will just replace their existing gas services like-for-like," Ms Manifis said.

That's exactly what the retail gas lobby, Gas Energy Australia, hopes customers will keep doing.

Chief executive Brett Heffernan said Grattan had underestimated the potential for LPG variants hoped to come online in years ahead to offer low-carbon gas alternatives.

"We're in a unique position as an industry because our path to decarbonise is quite easy, it's cost effective [and] it's commercially viable," he said.

LPG alternatives provide way to keep gas flowing

One of those options comes from renewable LPG, which is produced as a by-product of sustainable aviation fuel.

"Based on initial predictions for just the first three plans in operation, we can replace 11 per cent of our domestic LPG supply demand with renewable, bio-LPG, virtually overnight," Mr Heffernan said.

"Our modelling and our commitment is that we will replace all conventional use of LPG in Australia by 2045."

He said the cost of converting homes from gas to electric appliances was significant and would take more than a decade to deliver a return on investment.

Mr Heffernan said homeowners in the ACT were already switching to LPG, with the territory planning to ditch fossil fuels, including natural gas, by 2045. 

Master Plumbers Australia and New Zealand said while they were supportive of net zero ambitions, renewable gas presented an alternative to complete electrification.

"The resilience of our electricity infrastructure has been tested in recent years, and the cost of switching to electricity is significantly higher, so it's understandable that 100 per cent electrification might not be an appealing prospect for many Australian families," chair Tom Martin said in a statement.

Low income households to miss out: Social services

But WA's Council of Social Service has joined the calls for greater electrification, saying getting rid of gas would both help the environment and those on low incomes.

CEO Louise Giolitto said customers who could least afford it were doubling up by paying connection fees for both electricity and gas and, like Mr Secker, faced difficult choices when looking to replace appliances.

She said the switch from gas to electricity needed to be incentivised by government, citing solar panel grants as an example.

Not connecting new social and affordable homes to gas was another step she encouraged governments to take.

Government focused on big emitters

WA Environment Minister Reece Whitby said government support for switching home appliances was not being considered but could be in the future.

The state government is yet to decide whether it will set an end date for gas, but pointed to a residential project in Perth's south which the developer would not be connecting to gas.

"I encourage developers to follow that lead and it's something the government could look at in the future," he said.

Mr Whitby said the government was focused on big emitters at the moment, and encouraged households to switch from gas to electricity when it came time to replace ageing appliances.

"We know that electricity is cheaper and healthier, we know that in years to come we want to walk away from gas," he said.

"That is decades away, and there will be gas in the system for a long time, but I'm saying to people if you want to do the right thing by the environment, look at electric alternatives."