Canberra businesses and households will transition from gas to electricity over the next 20 years, the ACT Government announced this month. Fyshwick’s Melted Toasted Sandwich Emporium has already switched over, with government support – and chef Alex O’Brien recommends other businesses do the same.

Thanks to the ACT’s Business Water and Energy Program, Mr O’Brien and his business partner Alex Royds are able to upgrade their whole power system to electric, run on solar, and disconnect completely from gas, saving more than $4,000 in costs and 5,500 kg of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

The program provided a free energy assessment of their café and a rebate to upgrade the gas griddle they cook their toasties on to electric.

Gas technology is old-tech, Mr O’Brien explained; electric is faster to heat up, easier to work with, and causes less hassle.

• ACT reveals pathway to electrification (4 August)

The Melted chefs had planned to upgrade their kitchen over two years, but the grant meant they could knock everything over in one hit, Mr O’Brien said.

“It was always our plan to make ourselves as sustainable as possible, and not to give any money to any of the power companies if we could, since we opened the place.”

The costs of running a tiny café are high, he said: $12,000 to $15,000 a year in electricity, and $5,000 to $6,000 in gas. The gas bill was $150 a week from the flat-top griddle alone.

“It adds up over the year,” Mr O’Brien said.

Upgrading the power board was a big upfront payment, he said, “but it pays itself off pretty quickly”.

“We’ve been able to put it all under one bill, and run as much as we can through solar. It will be a massive thing for us.”

Because their café operates mainly in the daytime, Mr O’Brien hopes they will be able to save up to 90 per cent of their electricity cost from solar.

“There’s nothing worse than giving your money away when you could invest a little bit of money.”

He was “very impressed” with the government assistance.

“It’s a lot easier than I thought it was going to be!”

He sent an email, and within a week, an evaluator had come round to show the chefs where they could save money, and how the government could help them.

Messrs O’Brien and Royds, who formerly worked at a leading Barton fine dining restaurant, set up their café in January 2020. They weathered bushfires, hailstorms, and two lockdowns – “We’re looking forward to getting a full year under our belt without shenanigans!” Mr O’Brien said – but business is now booming; they opened a second café in Turner earlier this year.

And their toasties’ reputation is far from cheesy. Tired of working long hours in fine dining, the chefs wanted to make “something good, quick, and simple, something we’d want to eat on our days off”, Mr O’Brien explained.

“We can cook anything we want in a toastie – it’s not just cooking bacon and eggs or avocado on toast. It keeps the inspiration going!”

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