NYC natural gas leaks cost customers about $300 million a year, Columbia study finds

New Yorkers are paying for roughly $300 million a year in natural gas that never gets used, according to a Columbia Climate School study published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics and reported Wednesday by Gothamist.

Researchers at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory analyzed long-term tower observations of methane over the New York City metropolitan area. They estimated that methane emissions tied to natural gas equal about 1.7% (±0.6%) of the gas delivered through the system — fuel customers buy but do not fully consume, the paper said.

What is leaking — and when

The study found a strong seasonal cycle: methane emissions rose during winter heating and summer cooling, tracking how much natural gas was delivered and used. Natural-gas methane dominated both seasons and correlated tightly with consumption, yielding the roughly 1.7% loss rate — equivalent to about $300 million a year at 2023 and 2024 retail prices, according to the ACP abstract.

Gothamist reported that nearly 2% of the gas supplied to city customers is escaping into the air as uncombusted methane. Lead author Yuwei Zhao and co-author Roisin Commane pointed to underground pipelines plus stoves and boilers as likely sources; the paper’s observations indicated incomplete combustion, not pipeline leaks alone, as the primary natural-gas signal.

“The leaks are a massive waste of money,” Commane told Gothamist, calling them a major methane source for a city that is the Northeast’s largest methane polluter. Methane is a short-lived but potent greenhouse gas — more than 80 times as warming as carbon dioxide over a 20-year horizon, Gothamist noted.

Why it matters for the city’s energy mix

Gothamist said more than 90% of New York City’s electricity still comes from natural gas. The ACP authors argue that cities have spent heavily on street-level pipe upgrades without seeing expected methane drops, and that inefficient consumption — including incomplete combustion — should be a priority for near-term climate cuts.

The Gothamist story also placed the findings against stalled Northeast pipeline fights (Northeast Supply Enhancement and the Constitution Pipeline). City and state rules that push buildings off fossil fuels are moving toward effect; buildings already account for about two-thirds of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions from cooking and heating, Gothamist wrote.