Next April, Bend is set to become the second Oregon city to impose a fee to discourage new natural gas installations. That’s when the city’s Climate Pollution Fee takes effect after passing June 17 in a 4-1 vote. Ashland has had a similar ordinance since January 2026.
Bend’s Climate Pollution Fee will be a flat rate charge on developers when they install natural gas appliances in new residential structures. That would include central heating systems, water-heating systems, clothes dryers, fireplaces, and stoves. The fee applies to new single-family homes, townhomes, duplexes, and accessory dwelling units, but it doesn’t apply to existing structures, commercial buildings, manufactured homes, or buildings with four or more housing units.
The City estimates that the fee could add $2,972 to the cost of a new home, but that could change in the years to come based on updated utility and energy-mix data. Future calculations will take into account the net lifetime carbon impact of the gas appliance, the size of the home, and the carbon intensity of the electricity supply, and the “the social cost of carbon,” a calculation of the economic damage caused by global warming. The funds raised will be used to further combat climate impacts caused by greenhouse gases.
The move is part of a larger climate-policy effort by the city of Bend. In 2016, the Bend City Council adopted a climate-action resolution with goals to reduce fossil fuels 40% by 2030 and 70% by 2050. Bend City Council started working on the Climate Pollution Fee policy in 2024 and held public work sessions on it in late 2025 and early 2026.
City Council heard opposing testimony from the Northwest Gas Association and from leaders of United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 290, which represents some employees at contractors who install natural gas lines to new homes.
