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On Wednesday, Nov. 4, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) will vote on whether to reduce air pollution by restricting sales of new gas-fueled water heaters. This end-of-year proposal is a much-weakened version of the complete ban that was passed in 2023 and set to take effect in two months. Staff now estimates that up to 50% of all installations could be exempted. I expect the 24 members of the Board of Directors to vote in favor of this flexible proposal because if they do not, the full ban will go into effect.
The ruling has evolved because of intensive studies and feedback over the past three years. BAAQMD has analyzed technical considerations and cost challenges. Bay Area residents have weighed in with affordability concerns (gas water heaters are typically thousands of dollars cheaper to install) and feasibility concerns (some homes are not a good fit). At the same time, many residents have voiced strong support for cleaner air and reduced reliance on gas, including physicians, environmentalists, and parents of asthmatic kids. The proposal that BAAQMD will consider on Wednesday reflects this feedback with a commitment to move the Bay Area away from gas water heaters while accounting for the affordability concerns and technical challenges that have come to light.
Here is a brief rundown of the exemptions.
Affordability: Low-income households and households that are housing cost-burdened (more than 28% of gross household income is spent on mortgage and property tax) qualify for an exemption. Minimal documentation is needed; in fact homeowners can self-attest to being housing cost-burdened.
Practicality: Projects that pose considerable electrical or space challenges qualify for an exemption. These are one-time exemptions, and must meet specific criteria such as (1):
- More than 50 feet of 240 volt conduit needed
- Electric service of less than 100 amps
- Less than 700 cubic feet of space with no capacity for louvered doors or ducts
- Low ceiling heights
Technical Feasibility: There is also an exemption for small water heaters (less than 30 gallons), since no-NOx options are not readily available.
Staff expect about 20% of installations to qualify for the low-income exemption, another 20% to qualify for the feasibility exemption, and another 10% or so to be exempt due to small size, for a total of up to 50% exemptions.
Delayed Compliance Date: Tankless gas water heaters are not exempted, but the compliance date for those has been pushed back to 2033, presumably to see how technical options evolve during that period. The compliance date for “regular” water heaters has also been pushed back to January 1, 2028 from January 1, 2027.
There are many more details in the proposal, including the communication plan, the specifics of the exemption process, and the overall socioeconomic and environmental impact. You can find the staff report here and the presentation that staff will give to the board here.
Notes
0. You can find more background on this ruling in this blog post from last year. BAAQMD staff have refined the exemptions and exemption process and delayed the compliance dates since I wrote that blog post.
1. You can find more detail about the proposed exemptions on pages 11–14 of the staff report (pdf pages 16-19).
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