Massachusetts residents will no longer need to pay for their neighbors' gas-line hookups, a move that advocates say should move the state toward using more renewable energy sources.
The change, Canary Media reported, comes as a result of a new order issued by state regulators. Under the new order, any home, business, or organization that requests a gas hookup will be responsible for the costs of that connection.
Previously, the costs were split among all utility customers, meaning people who support renewable energy sources like wind and solar were still forced to subsidize the cost of new dirty-fuel connections. And environmentalists hope that the added cost will make some customers think twice before turning to natural gas.
"It means the expansion of the gas system will be much slower than it otherwise would've been," climate activist Mark Dyen told Canary Media. "It says, 'If you want to add to that for your own benefit, you can pay for it.'"
Adding a gas hookup isn't cheap. In 2023, the average cost for an installation in Massachusetts was $9,000.
Each natural gas connection also pays a toll on the environment.
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Natural gas is one of the world's dirtiest fuel sources. The pollution created by gas and oil production leads to more than $75 billion worth of health problems across the United States each year, along with thousands of deaths, research shows. It also plays a role in our planet's rising temperatures, which pose a number of threats to our health and the environment.
Massachusetts joins a growing number of states that have ended natural-gas subsidies, including California and New York.
"It really doesn't make sense for existing ratepayers to pay for people to join when we are actively transitioning people off the system," Sierra Club attorney Sarah Krame told Canary Media. "The economics of that don't make sense anymore. We're no longer in that world."
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