BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
The Bay Area Air District yesterday (July 14) said it’s planning to delay its looming ban on property owners buying gas water heaters.
The district’s board will consider delaying the ban a year, from January 2027 to January 2028, and to exempt low-income residents and property owners with limited electrical capacity or physical space.
“A broken water heater will never become a financial crisis,” air district CEO Philip Fine said in a statement yesterday.
A standard electric water heater costs $3,500 to install – $600 to $1,600 more than a gas water heater, the air district estimates.
About 18% of property owners can get the low-income exemption, and another 20% can get an exemption for building constraints, the proposed rules say.
The district’s board, made up of elected officials from around the Bay Area, backed off next year’s ban on May 13 after hearing from hundreds of residents.
The board will consider delaying its ban and offering exemptions at a November meeting.
The number one concern for those against the ban was the cost of living, especially as rents and gas prices are on the rise.
The air district is sending the wrong message at this time, Hayward Mayor Mark Salinas said at the May 13 meeting.
“Most Californians will not be able to afford this,” El Cerrito Mayor Gabe Quinto said.
From the Peninsula, Palo Alto Mayor Vicki Veenker, San Mateo County Supervisor Noelia Corzo, Mountain View Councilman Chris Clark and Sunnyvale Councilwoman Linda Sell were in favor of the ban.
Veenker compared the nitrogen oxide emissions to secondhand smoke and said residents would end up saving money on health care. Corzo said any family would choose a cost increase over slowly being poisoned.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer,” she said at the meeting.
Clark said today’s leaders need to face the unintended consequences of natural gas infrastructure, despite the political resistance.
“The longer you wait, the more difficult it is to correct course,” Clark said at the May 13 meeting.
San Mateo County Supervisor Ray Mueller was against the ban.
“This is a historic expansion of the district’s regulatory power,” Mueller said. “Do we want to do this at this current time, with the current administration?”
The air district is also working to ban new gas space heaters in January 2029 and gas water heaters for apartments and commercial properties in January 2033.
Be the first to comment