ALBANY — Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday signed legislation that scrapped a long-standing rule that currently requires utilities to provide free natural-gas hookups to new customers, a move proponents say could reduce energy costs for current ratepayers.
The policy was known as the “100-foot rule” due to the maximum hookup distance that utilities would have to cover. The rule effectively spread that cost to all other customers, subsidizing those hookups.
“It’s simply unfair, especially when so many people are struggling right now, to expect existing utility ratepayers to foot the bill for a gas hookup at a brand new house that is not their own,” Hochul said Friday…