Every year more homes are built in Bend. Every year that means more gas appliances are installed. And for some people that is a big problem. They want the city to restrict or disincentivize it.

The city’s Environment and Climate Committee plans to deliver a letter to the Bend City Council to adopt a climate fee, similar to the one passed by the city of Ashland.

In Ashland, developers now pay extra to install new appliances using fossil fuel energy systems such as natural gas.

It may cost an extra $4,000 for a gas furnace, $1,300 for a gas water heater, $700 for a gas fireplace and $370 for a gas stove and $145 for a gas clothes dryer. There’s a formula in the city of Ashland’s ordinance and we just rounded off some examples. The fee in Ashland is for new residential buildings and would be adjusted for inflation each year. If fossil fuel piping is installed but no appliance, it will be assumed that the appliance will use fossil fuels. If a new electric appliance is installed even with fossil fuel piping, there would be no fee.

The idea for Bend, as the climate committee discussed, would be to explicitly allocate the revenue from the Bend fee to do more work to promote a climate-friendly city.

There’s been a tug back and forth over how Bend should move forward on taking climate action. There seems to be broader support for the city providing information and outreach. There seems to be support for incentives, though the challenge is how to pay for them. There are legal questions about doing something that would effectively ban new natural gas hookups. Many members of the climate committee would like the city to do more and faster, though even on the climate committee, there was not unanimous support for sending the Bend City Council their support for an Ashland-like fee.

There are several questions that the climate committee and city staff are trying to develop good answers to. What is going to happen to the affordability of electricity? Is it truly cheaper to insist on use of electrical appliances? What is the local grid capacity? What is the legal risk of taking more aggressive action to limit the use of fossil fuels? And should the city’s focus be on homes or also on nonresidential buildings?

The proposed city work plan is to develop a climate disincentive/incentive program to be ready for unveiling perhaps in winter 2026. You may want to tell Bend City Councilors what you think about adopting a fee like Ashland’s. Councilors can be reached at council@bendoregon.gov.