Are Rolling Blackouts On The Way in New York?

As the push for all-electric services continues to increase, what sort of restrictions on demand can we expect on the limited supply?

Expected to take effect by 2026, no new builds in the state will allow the use of gas stoves, furnaces or other gas appliances. Residential homes that currently have gas appliances will be “grandfathered in,” but it’s only a matter of time before these restrictions eventually take effect in older homes as well. Thankfully, propane is currently unaffected by this new regulation. We’ve already seen some towns by Lake Ontario wholly adopt propane since their access to Natural Gas has already been reduced.

The implications here are fairly simple: every home that draws more power from the grid for its home appliances is causing additional strain and demand. Homeowners will also be less likely to invest in a home that runs natural gas if they fear the cost of a required retrofit at some point down the line. Propane is a practical alternative in many rural areas but may be more difficult to implement in urban areas where Natural Gas is already very plentiful and tied into the infrastructure.

This has become a pretty big talking point over the last few years since, across the country, power outages have become more common and untreated infrastructure issues have begun to compound. Even proponents who are in favor of the Natural Gas ban (for safety and ecological reasons) do not seem to have a clear answer about much needed updates to the power grid. What happens when a transformer that’s over 40 years old blows? Well, you’ll simply be without power for “x” number of days until it’s fixed. This is less of a problem in urban areas where response times are fast, but that won’t be the case in the countryside.

None of this is to even mention the lack-luster effect of renewable energy resources. Like all new technology, these sorts of things will likely get better and more effective over time, but right now they are nowhere close to effectively replacing fossil fuels. This means that we will effectively be increasing the demand of energy and reducing the supply simultaneously.

Although things here in the North East have not been as bad in the South West, we suspect it is only a matter of time until rolling blackouts are introduced more broadly as an energy saving measure. These actions will probably be dependent on demand, meaning sometimes they will be brief, but in the hot summer months they may last longer. 

Having a backup power option is also something worth considering, and has become more and more appealing to homeowners in our region. There are a variety of ways in which this can be done, either by backup generators or solar battery backup. Those two are the most robust and expensive options, but alternatives like portable generators and rechargeable battery cells are also good options. 

Companies like ours install home standby generators all across New York State, which can be configured to run on either Propane or Natural Gas. Homeowners see a lot of use out of these units during our somewhat infamous snowstorms. Areas like the North Country and Southern Tier also see frequent power outages from high winds. We expect there to also be an increase in demand in the event of rolling blackouts.

If you’re looking into backup power for your home, we highly recommend a Cummins Quiet Connect generator, particularly for our region, since these units have exceptional cold weather performance. If you’re interested in learning more about these units you can check out more info here on our website, or contact us directly to learn more.