Bay Area air regulators voted 16-1 Wednesday to delay the state’s first phaseout of gas water heaters by a year and let up to half of property owners who replace one skip the switch to electric heat pumps.
The rule, adopted in 2023, does not require anyone to replace a working water heater. But starting in January 2028, a year later than planned, most Bay Area property owners replacing a gas water heater will have to install a model that emits no nitrogen oxides, typically an electric heat pump…