The gas industry is trying to take New Jersey in the wrong direction on climate action. While other states are preparing consumers and workers to reduce reliance on natural gas, politicians in Trenton are considering legislation that would give gas utilities a blank check to pursue dubious, harmful “alternative fuels” that would only entrench our aging fossil fuel system further.
The fossil fuel industry is lobbying hard for a “renewable natural gas” bill that would allow gas utilities to prop up New Jersey’s sprawling and expensive fossil fuel pipeline system at a time when residents are increasingly opting for the health, economic and safety benefits of clean energy. This bill bypasses the thoughtful planning process kicked off by the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities that addresses how our state can continue to reliably heat buildings “in light of a shrinking gas customer base.” This legislation would allow gas utilities to make risky and costly investments that would lead to never-ending rate hikes for millions of gas customers.
Over the past several years, the gas industry has started promoting “renewable natural gas,” or RNG, to greenwash their way into low-carbon energy planning. The gas industry’s own research has shown there’s nowhere near enough RNG to replace today’s gas supply and the Energy Master Plan found that relying on RNG would be considerably more expensive than retrofitting buildings with efficient electric heat pumps.
These same concerns “regarding the costs and availability of RNG as well as its uncertain status as a zero-emissions fuel” led Massachusetts regulators to reject a similar proposal determining that if gas utilities want to pursue RNG, shareholders should pay for any infrastructure costs associated with this scheme, not consumers.
The fact is, residents across the Northeast are increasingly turning to the health, economic and climate benefits of highly efficient electric equipment such as heat pumps and ditching their gas service. Research from Acadia Center shows that amid rising gas rates, New Jerseyans can save money when they swap out their gas HVACs for electric heat pumps. On the high end, New Jersey Natural Gas customers can save 41% of their annual energy bill by making the switch, while South Jersey Gas customers would save 32%. And soon, New Jersey residents will be able to access thousands of dollars in rebates and incentives to adopt the latest clean-energy technologies, thanks to the Inflation Reduction Act and new state incentive programs.
The RNG scheme is just the latest attempt by gas utilities to require New Jersey households to pay more for the gas pipeline network even amid this growing trend toward healthier, more affordable homes. Yet, like any aging industry in a changing marketplace, gas utilities must evolve. New Jersey policymakers are exploring new investment opportunities for gas utilities that — unlike the current RNG bill — would enable a smarter, more cost-effective approach to reducing pollution from our buildings.
One such idea is the adoption of a “Clean Heat Standard,” which would set greenhouse-gas reduction targets for gas utilities and other heating fuel providers. To meet their targets, gas utilities would invest in clean-heat technologies such as energy efficiency, all-electric heat pumps and emerging technologies such as thermal energy networks. States like Vermont and Colorado already have clean-heat standards on the books and are working toward neighborhood-scale decarbonization projects that rely on diverse sources of clean heat to equitably transition entire neighborhoods toward clean energy using the same skilled workforce that installs and maintains the gas pipeline network.