Repealing New York’s 100-Foot Rule Will Worsen the Affordability Crisis
As lawmakers of every political affiliation rush to find new policies that bring costs down for New Yorkers, they’re overlooking the opportunity to fix a misguided piece of legislation signed at the end of 2025 that will send energy bills soaring.
Traditionally, utility customers have not been required to pay upfront for service connections, whether gas or electric. Despite this long-standing practice, the state Legislature last year repealed the so-called “100-foot rule,” which ensured homeowners and builders who wanted to hook up to the natural gas system didn’t have to foot an eye-watering bill to do so.
Masquerading as a clean energy initiative, the repeal of the 100-foot rule is the result of advocacy by environmental groups. Their goal is to put natural gas at a competitive disadvantage in pursuit of “electrify everything.”
As proof of that fact, the 100-foot-rule remains in place for electric service, meaning if you want electric service, the hookup is free, but if you want gas, you have to pay.
Meanwhile, “electrify everything” remains a fairy tale — it is something the current power grid simply can’t handle. As a result, this repeal, which takes effect later this year, can only become yet another unfunded mandate that creates significant costs and challenges for everyday New Yorkers.
To sell this policy to an unwitting public, advocates framed the 100-foot rule as an unfair subsidy that forces existing ratepayers to pay for someone else’s new stove or furnace. This claim ignores the basic economics of our energy grid and represents a fundamental misunderstanding of how utilities operate.
For decades, this rule has ensured that any New Yorker could access reliable energy without a crushing upfront burden. This is an industry standard that recognizes investments would pay for themselves over time as new customers joined the system and contributed to the network’s necessary ongoing maintenance, keeping future rates lower.
The recently released State Energy Plan, which affirmed that natural gas is a long-term necessity, estimates that factoring in the upfront premium required for new electrical infrastructure will send energy bills ballooning by hundreds of dollars a month – far more than the cost of upgrading and continuing to use existing systems. State regulators also have agreed that natural gas continues to be a critical resource in order to preserve safe, reliable power that supports jobs and economic growth.
The real motivator for repealing the 100-foot rule is clear: It’s a simple anti-gas policy designed to force a transition that neither our infrastructure nor our bank accounts are ready for. Advocates who used “affordability” messaging to sell the law conveniently failed to mention the fact that ratepayers are already funding billions of dollars in electric infrastructure upgrades just to make sure there is enough electricity for today’s needs — to say nothing of the additional poles, wires and generators that will be necessary to satisfy increased electric demand in the years ahead.
Repealing the 100-foot rule will also make it less likely that buildings convert from oil to gas. This will guarantee that older and less efficient fossil fuels, like oil, remain an essential part of our energy infrastructure for longer than they need to. Buildings will not convert from oil to gas heat if the upfront costs are too high, but natural gas is a much cleaner-burning fuel source that allows New York to phase out dirtier fossil fuels while keeping the lights on.
There is a commonsense solution. Lawmakers should use the year-long delay in implementing the 100-foot rule’s repeal to amend the law to allow homeowners to switch from oil to gas – a cost-effective way to truly do what climate advocates wish to accomplish: reduce emissions – and carve out low-to-moderate income customers.
The cost-of-living crisis shows no signs of relenting and now is not the time to dismantle energy choice. Doing so will price New Yorkers out of accessing the very fuel the state itself admits we will need for decades to come and that can balance out expensive electrification for those who can’t afford it.
Reliable, affordable energy shouldn’t be a luxury; inflexible and expensive mandates aren’t solutions; and New York’s future depends on a balanced energy mix. The ideological and unrealistic push to dismantle this law has been led by folks who either don’t know or don’t care about the significant financial burden this will place on the average ratepayer.
If the 100-foot rule’s repeal is indicative of how the state plans to safeguard affordability in the new year, hold onto your wallets, New York.
Jane Menton is the executive director of New Yorkers for Affordable Reliable Energy.
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