A gas moratorium is a temporary suspension, imposed by a utility, on new natural gas hookups in an area where the pipeline system cannot safely or reliably serve more demand. In practice it means no new residential, commercial, or industrial connections, and usually no increases in gas use by existing customers either — no larger furnace, no added gas range, no oil-to-gas conversion. Moratoriums are uncommon nationally but have become a fact of life in parts of the Northeast, where pipeline capacity, demand growth, and fights over new infrastructure have collided.1U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural Gas Moratoriums in the Northeast
Why a Utility Freezes New Gas Service
The usual trigger is a mismatch between demand and the pipeline capacity feeding a service territory. Population growth, new construction, and homeowners switching from oil to gas push peak-day demand up; the interstate pipelines delivering gas into the region can only carry so much. A utility that sells “firm” service — service it guarantees will not be interrupted — eventually has to choose between adding infrastructure and adding customers. When it concludes it cannot promise reliable service to new accounts without putting existing ones at risk on the coldest days, it declares a moratorium.1U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural Gas Moratoriums in the Northeast
Safety is sometimes the direct cause. National Grid’s 2018 restrictions in Massachusetts were prompted by over-pressurization risks in supply pipes.2Kaufman Borgeest & Ryan LLP. Impacts and Legal Issues in Light of Con Edison’s Moratorium on New Natural Gas Connections In other cases the pipes themselves could carry more gas, but regulatory opposition has blocked the new pipelines that would deliver it. That dynamic has been especially sharp in New England and around New York City.
Where Gas Moratoriums Are in Effect
The map has shifted over the past few years. Two of the biggest Northeast moratoriums have been lifted, while several in Massachusetts remain open-ended.
Lifted: Con Edison, Westchester County, New York
Con Edison suspended new gas connections across most of Westchester County in January 2019 after demand outran the pipeline capacity feeding the New York City area.1U.S. Energy Information Administration. Natural Gas Moratoriums in the Northeast The moratorium ended on December 1, 2023, roughly four and a half years later, after a Kinder Morgan pipeline upgrade added firm capacity and the peak demand forecast came down. New customers in that territory must now sign an attestation acknowledging New York’s clean energy goals and the availability of non-fossil-fuel heating alternatives before gas service is turned on.3Builders Institute. Con Edison Announces the End of Westchester’s Gas Moratorium
Lifted: National Grid, Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island
National Grid stopped processing new gas applications across its downstate New York territory in May 2019, affecting 1.8 million existing customers and ultimately denying service to more than 3,700 applicants. A November 2019 settlement with the state required the utility to lift the freeze immediately and work through roughly 4,000 pending applications covering more than 20,000 residential, commercial, and multifamily units.4New York State. PSC Approves Settlement Lifting National Grid Gas Moratorium
Still in Effect: Northampton and Easthampton, Massachusetts
The region’s longest-running moratorium dates to 2015, when Columbia Gas of Massachusetts (now Eversource) froze new connections after the Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Northampton lateral reached full capacity.5Eversource. Northampton and Easthampton Gas Moratorium In 2019 it became indefinite when Columbia Gas abandoned a $24 million “alternate backfeed” pipeline project, citing cost-benefit analysis and the lack of local interest in further gas expansion.6Daily Hampshire Gazette. Natural Gas Moratorium to Remain in Place in Northampton and Easthampton The policy bars all new connections and any increase in existing customers’ gas usage, and lines inactive for 24 months or more cannot be reactivated. Eversource says it does not expect changes “for the foreseeable future.”
Still in Effect: Berkshire Gas Territory
The same Northampton lateral constraint led Berkshire Gas to impose moratoriums beginning in late 2014 and 2015 on eight communities in Franklin and Hampshire Counties: Amherst, Deerfield, Greenfield, Hadley, Hatfield, Montague, Sunderland, and Whately. The company evaluated a new distribution main and an LNG storage facility, both estimated at $70 to $100 million, approaching the value of its entire existing system, and judged both uneconomical. The moratorium remains in place.7Berkshire Gas. Gas Availability
Still in Effect: Holyoke Gas and Electric
HG&E imposed a system-wide moratorium in January 2019.8MassLive. Holyoke Gas and Electric Proposes Tank Project to Ease Natural Gas Moratorium9HG&E. Natural Gas Moratorium FAQ10HG&E. LNG Infrastructure and Resiliency Project Update11WWLP. Holyoke Gas Supply Boosted by New Infrastructure Project Until then, the moratorium stands, with new service requests reviewed case by case.
Still in Effect: Middleborough, Massachusetts
Middleborough Gas and Electric Department has maintained its moratorium since February 2019. Its service area is fed solely by the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline, and all existing capacity is committed to firm customers; MGED has described regional pipeline expansion as “virtually impossible.” New firm connections, incremental load, and oil-to-gas conversions are prohibited — conversions “explicitly” so, because they increase peak demand. Limited exceptions exist for interruptible service, emergency generators, and certain small food and beverage businesses. As of late 2024 the moratorium remains in effect “until further notice.”12Town of Middleborough. Natural Gas Moratorium
What It Means If Your Property Is in a Moratorium Area
The practical rules differ by utility, but the pattern is consistent. If you own a home or building that already has gas, you can generally keep using it and replace broken equipment with units of equal or lesser capacity. You usually cannot add a new gas appliance, upsize a furnace or boiler, or convert another fuel source to gas. If a service line has been inactive — commonly 12 or 24 months, depending on the utility — it may not be reactivatable at all.
If you’re buying, building, or renting in an affected area, gas availability is not something to assume. Properties in moratorium zones cannot guarantee new gas service to prospective buyers or tenants, which matters for appliance choices, renovation plans, and the cost of heating. Check directly with the local utility, in writing, before you commit. Developers planning projects in a frozen territory should expect to design around electric heating, cooking, and hot water from the outset.
Notice and Protections in New York
After the Con Edison and National Grid episodes, the New York Public Service Commission built a formal framework for how utilities must manage moratoriums. It approved moratorium management procedures in early 2022 and adopted a broader Natural Gas Customer Bill of Rights in March 2026.13New York DPS. PSC Adopts Natural Gas Customer Bill of Rights
Under Case 20-G-0131, a moratorium is treated as a “last resort.” Utilities must identify vulnerable systems using trigger metrics and forecast shortfalls at least five years out. Specific requirements include:
- Filing a notice of a potential moratorium with the Commission at least two years before implementation, updated every six months.
- Issuing a request for proposals for non-pipe alternatives — energy efficiency, electrification, demand response — within 60 days of that filing.
- Filing a formal notice at least 120 days before the moratorium takes effect, with impact data, communication plans, and protections for disadvantaged communities.
- Maintaining a waitlist, reporting quarterly, and providing an ombudsman and hotline while the moratorium is in force.
- Lifting a moratorium only after permanent solutions are operational, not merely planned, with reliability demonstrated to the Commission at least two weeks beforehand.14Columbia Law School. Order Adopting Moratorium Management Procedures
The Customer Bill of Rights adds protections aimed squarely at people caught in these areas. Prospective tenants and homebuyers must be given a way to check gas availability before signing a lease or purchase. Applications submitted before a moratorium takes effect should be honored if the customer can show progress on development milestones. Customers whose service was interrupted for up to two years due to renovation or vacancy may seek restoration without increased demand. And utilities must provide information on non-gas alternatives and applicable programs to all affected customers.14Columbia Law School. Order Adopting Moratorium Management Procedures These rules apply in New York; Massachusetts customers rely on utility-specific policies and case-by-case review.
Alternatives for Affected Customers
Utilities and regulators in moratorium areas have pushed hard toward electrification as the substitute for gas service that is not available. HG&E, for example, requires a residential energy audit before considering any gas service request and offers rebates for electric heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, and electric clothes dryers.15HG&E. Natural Gas Interest New York’s PSC approved $223 million for demand-reduction measures during the Con Edison moratorium — energy efficiency and electrification programs offered as “non-traditional solutions” for needs that had previously been met with gas.16Utility Dive. New York Regulators Move to Address Con Edison’s Moratorium on New Gas Service If your utility has imposed a moratorium, ask what rebates, audits, and incentive programs it offers for electric heating, water heating, and cooking; those are usually the fastest path to a workable project.
Utility Moratoriums Are Not the Same as Gas Bans
A utility moratorium is a supply-side measure that can be lifted when the infrastructure catches up. It is distinct from a legislative gas ban — a city or state law prohibiting natural gas in new buildings for climate reasons — which is a deliberate policy choice rather than a capacity problem. The legal status of those bans is contested and varies by jurisdiction, with the Ninth Circuit having struck down Berkeley, California’s ordinance on federal preemption grounds while district courts in New York, Washington, D.C., and Maryland have upheld similar laws.17Columbia Law School. Two More Courts Uphold Building Decarbonization Laws, Rejecting EPCA Preemption If you’re trying to figure out why gas isn’t an option for a particular project, it’s worth confirming which of the two you’re dealing with: the answers you’ll get, and the timelines involved, are different.