New Yorkers Shatter Gas Usage Records as Cold Snap and Rate Hikes Test Winter Resilience

Record-breaking gas usage during New York’s winter freeze exposes the city’s dependence on fossil fuels, just as its transition to cleaner heating falters.

January’s arctic exhalations have left New York’s utilities crunching unprecedented numbers: over eight of National Grid’s ten busiest days for gas delivery have come in just the past fortnight. On February 7th, the company set an all-time record for gas supplied to Long Island and the Rockaway Peninsula, surpassing a limit breached only the week before. For Con Edison, responsible for over a million gas customers in New York City and Westchester, this was the third-highest day of gas output and its fourth-busiest month ever for delivery. In the five boroughs, what filled the frosty air was not only the shiver of the populace, but the whoosh of gas meters spinning faster than ever.

The shattering of these records is no fluke of accounting. The region’s spell of sub-freezing days has been buoyed by global cold spells that pinched energy flows across the United States. Utility officials have responded with predictable advice for shivering New Yorkers: pile on another layer, clear vents, set thermostats as low as comfort allows. Meanwhile, prices climbed as fast as the mercury fell. The New York Public Service Commission foisted a fresh rate hike onto Con Edison gas and electricity bills in January. National Grid estimates NYC customers could pay as much as 9.2% more than last month. Con Edison demurs from a figure, but hints at “steep” increases.

These numbers matter in a city where roughly 60% of households rely on gas heating, and 70% cook with gas. When deep cold lingers, every hour of warmth is bought at a stiffer price. For many, these costs will not merely discomfort but stretch already-tepid household budgets to a snapping point. Charities and social services report a steady trickle of calls from residents worried about next month’s bill, or already unable to keep up with the last.

The surge is not merely a matter of household budgets; it foregrounds the city’s ponderous progress towards energy transition. State policy calls for phasing out fossil gas in buildings—yet real change remains stubbornly out of reach. Governor Kathy Hochul, bowing to pressure from builders and some unions, recently postponed new gas hook-up restrictions until 2027. That delay, announced in a city now chilled to the bone, bespeaks the perverse resilience of fossil fuel dependence.

New York’s new utility bills also underscore a secondary, and less publicized, reality: electricity itself remains tethered to natural gas. Some 80% of the city’s electricity is generated in plants fueled by methane. As a result, cold snaps do not merely drive up heating demand, but also underpin wholesale power prices, cascading costs through the entire energy chain. For now, green alternatives remain a slow burn: although wind and solar generation trends upwards, their contributions are modest—about 8% in the state last year, barely a dent in winter’s appetite.

Residents are left to turn down thermostats, or turn to government assistance. But the effectiveness of such “demand management” is puny compared to the scale of the need. The U.S. Department of Energy’s advice—to shave several degrees when homes are empty—portends a paltry savings at a time when historic cold snaps rarely coincide with empty apartments. Even so, Con Edison’s Jamie McShane reminds the public: “Usage is the biggest contributor to your bill.” Few New Yorkers, hemmed in by the city’s dense housing and modestly sized radiators, are apt to find much more slack.

A chill wind blows through energy transition goals

Nationally, reliance on natural gas is hardly unique to New Yorkers. The American Northeast is perennially gas-hungry, a fact laid bare whenever cold descends. Compounding matters this year were national price spikes: as winter storms swept across much of the U.S., wholesale gas costs rose sharply. Boston, Philadelphia and Chicago each notched similar records for consumption. Europe, too, has learned grim lessons about fossil dependence during energy crises—though recent winters, at least, have been milder.

Policymakers and utilities now face a wicked dilemma. Robust infrastructure and ample supply have allowed New York to weather the freeze without rolling blackouts or serious shortages. But the very success of the system—its capacity to meet extraordinary peaks—is what perpetuates investments in gas delivery infrastructure, even as legislators publicly trumpet decarbonisation targets. Telling New Yorkers to nudge the thermostat a notch lower rings hollow against the thrum of new pipelines and deferred mandates.

If city leaders and Albany wish to take climate ambitions seriously, both carrots and sticks are overdue. Accelerating heat-pump installations, overhauling building standards, and shovelling more dollars (and bureaucratic attention) into weatherisation and efficiency have long been on the agenda, but precious little has been realised at any meaningful scale. Recent cold spells stress-test not just infrastructure, but also political resolve.

The city’s hard winter should serve as a reminder to both policymakers and the public: robust, modern energy systems must be both secure and sustainable. Repeatedly breaking usage records for an anachronistic fuel does not signal resilience so much as warning. In a global city that aspires to climate leadership but remains captive to fossil dependency, every unprecedented cold snap narrows the window for meaningful change.

Barring an unseasonably warm turn, New York will endure rising bills, continued emissions, and a political calculus that still shivers between rhetoric and resolve. The thermometer, it seems, is the only thing dropping faster than confidence in a smooth transition. ■