Audrey Streb
DCNF Energy Reporter
New York will soon force developers to build new buildings that can only use electricity for temperature control and appliances, which will further strain the state’s electric grid if it’s fully implemented, according to energy policy experts and some state officials.
Starting in January 2026, the “All-Electric Building Act” will require most new buildings to run mainly on electricity and ban gas appliances, with only a few exceptions. New York utility companies are reportedly struggling to meet the state’s harsh electrification mandate that could worsen existing power shortages if the policy is fully enforced, some energy experts and state officials who spoke with the Daily Caller News Foundation warned.
“New York’s energy mandates are forcing the shutdown of reliable power plants faster than we’re bringing new sources online, and that’s creating a serious capacity shortfall. As a result, housing developments across the state are being delayed or canceled,” Republican New York State Senator Pamlea Helming told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Not because of funding or local opposition, but because there simply isn’t enough power to support them. When the state pushes all-electric mandates without building the infrastructure to match, it drives up costs and makes it harder to build the attainable housing our communities desperately need.” (RELATED: Forget Stoves! The Biden Admin Is Working Overtime To Phase Out All Your Gas Appliances
Helming has written about the struggle to develop new housing in her district, noting that the all-electric mandate is placing pressure on utility companies and is complicated by New York’s weak power grid. As things stand, New York has enacted several regulations on appliances, has a 2040 green energy mandate and has some of the highest average utility bills in the U.S., according to data from Energy Information Administration (EIA).
A major grid watchdog and New York’s grid operator both noted that the state has major projected electricity needs that it may be unable to meet. New York is phasing out fossil fuel-fired power plants to meet emissions targets without replacing them with carbon-free sources fast enough, according to the New York Independent System Operator, the state’s grid manager.
Representatives for both New York State Electric and Gas (NYSEG) and Rochester Gas and Electric (RG&E) told a local news outlet that “unforeseen and unprecedented demand” in the region has complicated their businesses. Jared Simpson, the town supervisor in Canandaigua, New York, told WXXI News that utilities are dissuaded from electrification due to electricity shortages.
Simpson reportedly said that when developers were grappling with a power shortage, RG&E and state officials told them that the solution was to “take out the (electric vehicle) chargers, put in gas heat, put in gas stoves, put in gas dryers.”
“The utility companies have to go through a pretty tough adversarial process to get their rates and their spending plans approved, and there is a decent chance that some of the places that are now choke points for building up the grid were subject to different constraints by state government,” Ken Girardin, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, told the DCNF. “That is to say, the utility companies wanted to spend more on the grid and regulators didn’t let them.”
As New York phases out power plants and fails to replace aging energy infrastructure fast enough, its policies are marching the state toward a serious electricity problem, Girardin argued. He also said that the electrification goals will negatively impact housing and school districts.
“Eventually, the bill is going to come due,” Girardin said. “Developers either aren’t going to be able to get electricity for projects, or the numbers on those projects are going to make them much less attractive.”
The “All-Electric Building Act” was signed into law in 2023 before the code was then approved in the state budget, according to a local news outlet WGRZ. The bill specifically applies to buildings less than seven stories and it carves out some exemptions for buildings like fire stations, hospitals and restaurants, according to the bill text.
The regulations would not apply to homes that already use gas stoves or gas-powered heating, though a full electric transition will eventually be required in the state, according to officials. (RELATED: New York Rolls Out ‘Shakedown’ Law Forcing Companies To Atone For Climate Change With Cash)
“Full electric will have to be every building at some point,” Democratic New York State Sen. Liz Kruger said, according to WGRZ. New York’s Scoping plan calls for zero-emission technologies and a “gas system transition.”
Much of the state’s electricity stems from natural gas, according to NYISO. The Empire State’s green energy mandate threatens its grid reliability and will add costs to ratepayers, experts previously told the DCNF.
“Buildings have 40 percent of our state emissions so by cutting out building emissions, this is going to be an incredible step forward for our environmental goals,” Democrat Assemblymember Emily Gallagher said, according to WGRZ. “This was a real battle to get passed.”
While some officials are celebrating the impending transition, some community members are concerned about how the new building code will impact costs.
“New York State … it’s been difficult to get anyone to really listen to any logic on the problems that this poses to us as builders. It was going to create about a $20,000 increase in the cost to build a home,” Buffalo Niagara Building Association President Phil Nanula told WGRZ.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 8 that calls for the attorney general to identify any state laws that may be unconstitutional or “otherwise unenforceable.”
Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Gallagher, NYSEG and RG&E did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.
New York does seem to be in a “hold my white wine” contest with California for green virtue signaling.
Story tip
Force, when the real world will not comply, is all they’ve got.
UK Met Office Flirts With Conspiracy Theory as it Slams Critics of Its ‘Junk’ Temperature Measuring Sites
The efforts of a small number of people to undermine the integrity of Met Office observations by obscuring or misrepresenting facts is an attempt to undermine decades of robust science around the world’s changing climate.
…
Stuffed with activists, the Met Office continues on its deranged course of political Net Zero fear-mongering, turning weather maps purple in summer and issuing constant weather warnings to the amusement of grown adults
https://dailysceptic.org/2025/08/06/uk-met-office-flirts-with-conspiracy-theory-as-it-slams-critics-of-its-junk-temperature-measuring-sites/
It was amusing to begin with, now it’s a colossal bore.
Socialist policies are designed to make those who push them, feel good about themselves.
Actually working is not required.
As H.L. Menchen said: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
In the UK people know what they want; government says nah.
Hint: Remember, remember the 5th. of November…too bad you guys ain’t got no guns…
New York does not believe Ayn Rand who said something like “You can ignore reality, but you can’t ignore the consequences of ignoring reality”.
My advice to New Yorkers: GeT.OUt.WhiLE.You.StiLL.CaN.
Yeah, well, please don’t come here. New Yorkers aren’t welcome. Neither are Californians. You should stay there and fix the problems instead of fleeing.
But as we all know, the REST of the Country is going to have to bail out those leftards, again, after they crash and burn, again. It’s all well and good to make them stew in their own juices, but that threat is empty. In the end we non-leftards are going to be on the hook for the repairs.
NY is a basket case of rotten governance. So is CA. So is OR for that matter. Cut the Fed funds to all of them. Make us all self-reliant, whether we want it or not. Tough love. Sink or swim. No bail outs. Ever again. And make it stick.
“new buildings that can only use electricity for temperature control”
The record low temperature for Albany, NY was on January 19, 1971. That was -28°F (-33°C). Without heat, a free-standing house will get unlivable in a few hours when temperature is well below freezing.
Rural area houses usually have propane (gas) or electricity for heating, plus a wood-burning stove, maybe a real fireplace. Do apartments come with wood stoves?
“The bill specifically applies to buildings less than seven stories ”
How long does it take for a 7-story building to cool off in -20°F temp and a 20 mph wind?
I like prime numbers and will guess the choice, in this case, was similarly based on feelings rather than physics and engineering. Add 7 to the list of 1.5°, 97%, 10yrs, and 1 Wadhams.
If things continue as they are, this experiment will eventually be conducted.
Vancouver has had such building regulations for possibly decades now.
Fortunately, BC has has abundant hydro electricity which cost 11 cents per kWh. However, due to a drought in Peace River region, hydro power has been reduced. BC Hydro spent $500 million last year to buy imported electricity.
They have cheap and abundant hydro power for now. So do we, here in Washington State. But we also have a contingent hell-bent on removing our dams. Assume they have the same up in BC.
I have seen on the TV reports of protesters wanting to remove some dams to restore salmon to the Snake River system. Salmon are big fish and probably have too much mercury. Where does the mercury come? All those coal-fired power plants in China.
Most of the dams are in the northeast of the province, which is too far away for the city slicker protesters.
Like California, Illinois and Massachusetts, if you vote for stupid politicians, you can’t complain about the result. You had it coming and are fully entitled to the results.
This worshiping of electricity is more dangerous than any religious or political fanatic.
Whatever will Gov. Kathy H. do when the EPA rescinds the 2009 CO2 Endangerment Finding? She will have to eat crow and repeal the Climate Act. Interesting times are ahead.
Hopefully, NY will secede and the rest of us won’t lift a finger to stop it.
President Trump would never allow NY to secede. He lots properties and hotels there.
So the LCOVS (levelized cost of virtue signaling) in NY would be $20k per house. But that’s just for home builders and eventually buyers. I wonder what the LCOVS will be for ratepayers and taxpayers. Then there are the costs for when businesses start to leave, etc. Is NY in a race with Cali to see which goes bankrupt first?
“Around 158 companies managing $993 billion in assets, including AllianceBernstein and Elliott Management, moved their headquarters out of New York to states including Florida and Tennessee from the first quarter of 2020 to early 2023, according to a Bloomberg study of corporate filings”
Freeze to death starving in the dark. Island them. Let it go. Nothing would be lost.
We do not have an energy problem, we do not have a climate problem we have a government problem. A bunch of know nothing politicians, bureaucrats and administrators who only screw things up. Get the government out of the energy business and out of the CAGW business. Government can be truly awful and we see it in California and New York.
It is not clear whether this story, as written, relates to New York City or New York State!
Please clarify!