The Bend City Council is struggling to define a policy to encourage all electric appliances and heating/cooling systems in new construction.
The City is working toward a goal of cutting fossil fuel use by 70% by 2050. According to the City’s website, half of local emissions come from energy use in buildings. Residential buildings are responsible for 28%, while commercial buildings contribute 20%. In April, the Bend City Council instructed staff to explore ways to encourage residential electrification rather than natural gas in new construction.
At a work session on Oct. 22, councilors heard a presentation from consultant Danielle Walker with Brightline Group about the current usage of electricity versus natural gas and some of the costs associated with building homes that only run on electricity.
“There’s obviously real tension between our goals for climate and environment and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and our reliance on fossil fuel… There’s tension with our housing goals,” Councilor Mike Riley said.
Walker’s presentation showed upgrading to efficient electric equipment would reduce current CO2 emissions by 27%, but it also showed annual energy costs for Pacific Power customers would rise by $151 per year. It would save money for Central Electric Cooperative customers, by as much as $234 annually. Another slide indicated it could cost $25,006 to install efficient electric equipment compared to $11,420 for efficient gas equipment in homes. Converting to all electric, but not efficient appliances, would cost $4,585. The presentation also stated that 60% of heating systems in new construction in Bend are natural gas.
Federal incentives to install solar panels as an environmentally friendly source of energy are ending. On December 31, 2025, the 30% tax credit for residential solar panels will be terminated following the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill last July.
The City Council is considering implementing a fee to discourage the installation of natural gas in future projects, possibly as a tiered system similar to how they operate the System Development Charges. Councilors also want to consider non-monetary incentives but did not mention specifics about what those might be nor what the amount of a new fee could look like.
Councilor Megan Norris, who works for Hayden Homes and won’t be voting on a plan due to a conflict of interest, participated in the discussion saying, “This is a struggle. I’m very committed to protecting our environment and climate goals, but I also recognize that our governor has declared a housing emergency in our state, and I’m very concerned about some of these numbers that I’m seeing. You know, $25,000 in equipment costs that are going to have to be borne by developers. That’s significant, and that’s probably going to be passed down to the eventual homeowner.”
Councilor Steve Platt was also concerned about costs.
“Even though my heart says I want to shift and have no more gas installations, I want to be pragmatic, and I want to understand and have dollars to help enable that shift, because it is more expensive. So I want revenue to help make it easier for the people who are going to get into homes, and the people who are going to build homes to actually encourage this shift over the long term.” He also said, “I’m also highly, highly sensitive to the cost of getting the housing built here locally, and what that means to me is we’ve got to get our housing production numbers happening such that we have 33,000 more homes in the next 20 years, and I want those homes to be affordable.”
The council chamber was packed with young adults holding signs during the Oct. 22 meeting. Earlier they held a rally at the Peace Corner at Wall Street and Newport Avenue, shouting, “What do we want? Climate Action! When do we want it? Now!” Many of them are members of the Deschutes Youth Climate Coalition and Energize Bend!, which support the elimination of natural gas in new homes.
Energize Bend! Campaign Coordinator Brennan Breen told the Source, “I think as a young person, we really need climate leadership and haven’t gotten it as young people. Even in a town like Bend that really relies on the environment for a lot of things that draw us here, we really haven’t done anything to protect it. We passed our community climate action plan in 2019 and since then, emissions have gone up 13%.”
At the end of the discussion, Mayor Melanie Kebler directed the consultant and staff to return to its Dec. 10 work session with two or three options outlining fees or incentives.
“We received a lot of input before today, and I want to thank everybody who sent us input, who emailed us, who called, who is here today, who was rallying on the corner. We appreciate you showing your care for this issue. Your care for your community and continue to send us that input. We will continue working this process. As you heard today, it is not black and white. There are nuances. It is a hard topic to wrestle with, but we are committed to wrestling with it and to finding the best solution we can right now,” Kebler said.
After the December work session, the City will launch a committee to get input on a proposed plan, as well as hold roundtables with developers and environmentalists. The goal is to have a new fee or incentive plan in place by late spring.
This article appears in the Source October 30, 2025.
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These policies seek to replace fossil fuels (natural gas, coal, petroleum) with electricity, a worth goal. However in 2023, 63% of residential CO2 emissions come from using electricity generated by utilities, 29% from natural gas and 8% from petroleum. (https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/energy-and-the-environment/where-greenhouse-gases-come-from.php) Simply switching to electricity does not accomplish the goal of reducing CO2 emissions. That would require reduction of CO2 emissions from electricity generation, something outside the control of the city council.
Let’s see, just another factor for the cost of housing and exploding rental fees. Examples: Kotek and her liberal surrogates declare the entire state of Oregon is in a Wildfire Wilderness zone. Insurance companies aren’t supposed to use this declaration for insurance rate increases but in reality, they do – home insurance costs have skyrocketed. Effect: homeowners will pay more for insurance and pass that along in rent increases to tenants.
Bend’s city council pursues their “no fossil fuel folly” costing more in building codes to rid of natural gas. Result, more costs to builders, tenants, city residents, and rents will increase.
When will the city charge bicyclists for the changes made to city streets to accommodate bicyclists? It’s cost the city tons of money for designing bike lanes with reflectors, rubber isolation posts, special snow removal gear for the bicycle lane, and tons of engineering costs to accommodate bicycles. Where some of Bend’s city streets allowed parking, these arterials now only allow auto and bicycle access, no on street parking. NE Purcell reflects this change. Now, side streets are further cluttered with parked cars. When will bicyclists pay?