As home gas use declines, rising infrastructure costs are pushing consumer gas bills higher.

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Americans are using less natural gas at home, yet their gas bills continue to rise. A growing share of those bills now reflects the cost of maintaining and upgrading gas distribution networks, even as electrification and state climate policies raise questions about the long-term role of gas in buildings.

James Van Nostrand, a senior fellow with the Kleinman Center and policy director at the Future of Heat Initiative, discusses how rising infrastructure spending has reshaped household gas costs and why extensive pipeline replacement has not necessarily produced better safety outcomes. He also examines a growing challenge for utility regulation: how to manage increasingly overlapping gas and electric systems that can provide many of the same household services.

Van Nostrand, former chairman of the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities, explores when continued investment in gas infrastructure may become uneconomic, whether targeted electrification could offer a lower-cost alternative to replacing aging pipelines, and what regulators and policymakers can do to ensure that the transition is both reliable and affordable.

James Van Nostrand is a senior fellow with the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and policy director at the Future of Heat Initiative.

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Coping Under Strain: How Climate, Utility Disconnections, and LIHEAP Shaped Household Energy Strategies During the Pandemic https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/coping-under-strain-how-climate-utility-disconnections-and-liheap-shaped-household-energy-strategies-during-the-pandemic/

Energy and the Economics of Affordability https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/commentary/podcast/energy-and-the-economics-of-affordability/

Energy Policy Now is produced by The Kleinman Center for Energy Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. For all things energy policy, visit kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu.