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“New York shouldn’t continue supporting an outdated policy that encourages expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure when cleaner, highly efficient electric technologies are ready available.”
When I walk into a new or renovated building, I wonder how it will function over time. Will it stay comfortable in colder winters and hotter summers? Will it protect occupant health and safety? Will the design and infrastructure choices being made today still make sense decades from now, as energy systems evolve and weather patterns change?
As a Building Performance Institute-certified energy professional, I work with clients across the Hudson Valley to understand how their homes and buildings use energy and how improvements can make them more comfortable, efficient, and resilient.
Right now, a majority of New York households—nearly 60 percent—rely on natural gas for home heating. That keeps them hooked onto expensive gas pipelines and volatile fossil fuel prices. It also means that in many new construction and renovation projects, gas can appear more affordable because the cost of extending the pipeline is spread across existing gas customers.
We don’t have to keep building this way. I’ve seen more homeowners and project teams consider all-electric homes with heat pumps and heat pump water heaters, as well as solar, battery storage, and electric vehicle charge. Moving away from fossil fuels in our homes reduces pollution and the health and safety concerns that come with burning fuel indoors.
When these electric technologies are planned together from the beginning, they can create homes that are healthier, safer, more efficient, comfortable, and resilient. To ensure these are the types of homes and buildings New York constructs for the future, utility regulators must quickly end a policy known as the 100-foot rule.
Most residents have likely never heard of the 100-foot rule even though it costs gas customers $600 million every year, lets utilities profit, and locks new households into fossil fuels. The policy allows New York’s gas utilities to charge existing customers for the cost of expanding gas pipelines to new customers. After lawmakers and Gov. Kathy Hochul passed legislation to repeal the 100-foot rule last year, it’s now up to regulators on the Public Service Commission to implement the law.
The pro-gas 100-foot rule is outdated at a time when New Yorkers are using less and less gas. The typical residential gas customer used 18 percent less gas in 2024 compared to 2018, yet paid 6 percent more year over year to cover the costs of gas pipelines and utility profits.
As gas use declines, national consumer trends show electric technologies such as highly efficient heat pumps are becoming more popular. For the last four and a half years, heat pumps have outsold gas furnaces and, last year, heat pumps made up 47 percent of cooling equipment sales.
By ending the 100-foot rule, utility regulators can remove an incentive that favors new gas hookups and give homeowners greater freedom to choose the energy systems that make sense for their homes. Heat pumps are essential for forward-looking design that keeps residents comfortable when extreme temperatures strike. Heat pumps can be three to four times more efficient than gas furnaces and provide reliable heating even during cold winters. They also provide cooling during increasingly hot summers without burning fossil fuels in the home.
Homes should be places that promote comfort, health, and stability so families and residents can share joy and make lasting memories. These homes are harder to build if we stick with the 100-foot rule. New York shouldn’t continue supporting an outdated policy that encourages expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure when cleaner, highly efficient electric technologies are ready available.
Ending the 100-foot rule gives homeowners greater freedom to choose cleaner energy systems while moving New York toward healthier, safer, and more sustainable homes.
Marcy Cleveland is director of residential energy solutions at New Energy Project Management.