Stepping on the gas: Energy industry, builders fight gas appliance bans

The Washington, D.C., area’s dominant natural gas provider is fighting an imminent ban on gas stoves for new construction in Montgomery County, Maryland, joining a growing national resistance to such restrictions.

“Washington Gas has been providing safe, affordable, reliable and secure energy to our customers across the region for almost 175 years, and our goal is to continue to meet the region’s energy needs now and in the future,” utility spokesman Andre Francis told The Washington Times.

Since 2019, Washington Gas has provided 11 real estate yard signs with the names and phone numbers of Montgomery County builders above a shingle that proclaims “natural gas available,” the utility told The Times.

Residents say the signs started popping up outside new homes after Montgomery County moved at the end of last year to implement the East Coast’s first county-wide ban on gas stoves, beginning in 2026.

“The signs started appearing around Christmas, when the gas issue was getting a lot of attention,” said Robert Dyer, a real estate blogger who writes about county housing trends.

Nationwide, at least 75 cities and counties have introduced legislation to ban natural gas in new construction, according to the American Gas Association.

But 20 states — including Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire and Arizona — have passed “energy choice” laws protecting the rights of homeowners to use gas-powered systems, the association notes.

“We’re working and trying to rally the whole housing community, both providers and stakeholders, to demand that before these regulations go into place, somebody give us the evidence as to why they’re needed,” said Jerry Howard, CEO of the Washington-based National Association of Home Builders.

Jurisdictions that have banned gas stoves note that the appliances leak methane, a greenhouse gas that environmentalists say contributes to global warming and causes breathing problems.

“Methane … has 80 times the warming potential over a 20-year period than carbon dioxide. From fracking to transport through pipelines to use in homes or power plants, that methane leaks into the atmosphere, fueling disastrous climate change,” Amneh Minkara, an electric heating advocate at the environmentalist Sierra Club, said in an email.

Meanwhile, the Inflation Reduction Act, which President Biden signed into law last year, provides federal funds to help jurisdictions convert gas appliances to electricity. For example, the D.C. Council this week introduced legislation that would make those tax dollars available to install electric stoves in households earning less than $80,000 a year.

Natural gas proponents have disputed the need for such laws.

“Any push to ban natural gas would raise costs to consumers, jeopardize environmental progress and deny affordable energy to underserved populations,” the American Gas Association said in an email.

Roughly 187 million Americans and 5.8 million businesses use natural gas daily, well over half the nation, according to the D.C.-based trade group, which represents more than 200 utilities.

Natural gas saved those homes and commercial buildings more than $650 billion over the past decade compared to electric heating costs, the association says. The group cites government data showing that gas heating is 92% energy efficient, compared to electricity’s 38% efficiency.

‘The market wants gas’

About 1.1 million people live in Montgomery County, which adjoins the nation’s capital and is Maryland’s most populous county. And most homebuyers there don’t want electric appliances, according to real estate agents and builders who have noted a recent uptick in pro-gas property listings.

“We’ve seen more people mentioning gas stoves in their real estate listings because of the new law,” said Realtor Pat Kilner, whose Potomac brokerage has sold homes in Montgomery County for 19 years. “It’s capitalizing on the news of the time and maybe that’s good marketing for whatever percent of the population really wants a gas stove.”

One recent listing for a new home in Bethesda touts the selling point of a $16,000 antique-style Lacanche French gas range, which builders installed in the kitchen.

“The market generally prefers natural gas because it’s better for cooking, feels nicer on your skin with cooler air coming out of the heating system and is more economical for drying clothes,” said listing agent Carl Becker of Premier Properties, which specializes in building high-end custom homes on vacant lots.

Castlewood Builders, which displayed the Washington Gas sign outside at least one newly constructed home in Montgomery County in recent weeks, declined to comment.

A 2021 study by the National Association of Home Buyers found that 51% of homebuyers preferred gas for cooking compared to 39% who wanted electric heating and 10% who didn’t know or didn’t care. The association of 130,000 builders and developers claims to represent 90% of all new housing construction nationwide.

“The market wants gas,” said Mr. Howard, the group’s CEO. “When you get over 50%, that’s what you build for.”

Still, progressive lawmakers in dozens of states, cities and counties have moved in recent years to ban gas in everything from leaf blowers to school buildings.

Berkeley, California, in 2019 became the first U.S. city to ban natural gas appliances, including stoves. The ban applies even to restaurants, an industry exempted from restrictions in Montgomery County and elsewhere.

Last year, Washington state banned gas from new commercial buildings and some residences starting this summer, and Massachusetts passed a law that lets local governments do the same.

The clash to end the use of gas appliances has only intensified since the end of last year.

Last month, Richard Trumka Jr., a Biden appointee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, walked back comments suggesting the administration would move to restrict gas stoves nationally.

Sens. Joe Manchin, West Virginia Democrat, and Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, responded by introducing legislation last week that would prevent the federal government from banning gas stoves.

On Tuesday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, announced a proposal that would make hers the first state to ban gas heating systems and appliances over the next several years.

“I think the legislative authorities want to be seen as do-gooders without factual information in front of them,” said Max Pyziur, natural gas analyst at the Energy Policy Research Foundation, a D.C. think tank. “It’s odd to go after gas stoves since carbon monoxide is not a pollutant and the jury is still out on how lethal gas stoves are.”

Besides increasing the value of houses built with gas stoves, economists say the Montgomery County ban will make it harder for working-class people to buy homes there.