Con Edison Announces the End of Westchester’s Gas Moratorium
Con Edison announced that as of December 1, 2023, the temporary natural gas moratorium, which commenced on March 15, 2019 in most of its Westchester County service territory to address a supply-demand imbalance and support reliability of service to customers in the affected area, will end. In a letter to the Public Service Commission, Con Ed explained that said that the combination of increased supply from the Tennessee East 300 Project and lower forecasted demand resolves the Westchester supply-demand gap which prompted the moratorium on new gas hookups.
In the coming weeks, Con Edison will notify local agencies, elected officials, and those customers who had previously signed up on the gas service interest list which was maintained during the period the moratorium was in effect, even if they signed up on that list months ago. If you signed up on that list any time since 2019, you should expect further communication directly from Con Ed.
The BRI anticipates that Con Ed will both remove moratorium-specific web pages from www.coned.com as well as post information on how to request new gas hookups or conversions from oil to gas beginning December 1.
However, please note that this announcement does NOT change anything with regard to the requirements under the All Electrification Act, whereby there will be statewide ban on fossil-fuel use in new construction. The measure will start in 2026 for structures of seven stories or less. The ban for larger buildings starts in 2029.
To that end, one week after the lifting of the moratorium, the company will hold technical meetings with plumbers and general contractors and will also contact customers , and they will receive information about fossil-free alternatives. All customers who request new service are required to sign an attestation confirming their awareness of New York State clean energy policy goals and the availability of non-fossil fuel alternative heating options.
