Homeowners and builders are calling a possible ban on certain gas-powered appliances in the San Francisco Bay Area an extreme move, forcing a region prone to blackouts to rely even further on an over-burdened electrical supply.
“This is just pure extremist politics being taken to the ultimate extremes,” said National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard. “You talk to anybody in California, their electrical grid can’t take the current strain in the summer, obviously, and you’re going to add to it by making every car electric, every furnace, every air conditioner, every refrigerator, every stove electric?”
“Once you start down this path that gas is bad, it gives momentum to all of these extremists who are choosing to ignore the facts and pursue an agenda that is only going to cause more people to be paying too much for their housing or, God forbid, more homelessness in an area that’s already ravaged by homelessness,” he continued.
CEO SAYS PROPOSAL TO BAN GAS-POWERED APPLIANCES COULD COST CONSUMERS THOUSANDS:
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The Bay Area Air Quality Management District is considering two rules that will ban the sale and installation of water heaters, boilers and furnaces that emit nitrogen oxide, which regulators say could cause asthma and other health issues. The move would effectively ban gas-powered versions of those appliances, meaning only those that run on electricity would be permitted.
Last week, over 100,000 customers in the Bay Area lost power as a cold front with high winds caused downed power lines and outages, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. Additionally, California can’t meet its current demand and imported 30% of its electricity from out-of-state sources in 2021, according to the California Electrical Commission.
“This is a state that’s electrical grid is already overburdened,” Howard told Fox News. “The builders will have to invest in new equipment for the subdivision that’s more expensive, again,…
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