What's wrong with natural gas? (Dallas, Plano: apartments, rental, buying a house)

[Ralph_Kirk]

It seems like the Dallas area has a prejudice against using natural gas. I definitely prefer natural gas for home and water heating, and my wife prefers it for cooking. But it's rather hard to find it in use in the Dallas area.

Any reasons for that?

[ChristieP]

It just depends where you are looking. Some areas don't have gas because it is expensive to run the pipes in a residential development, so some developers just chose to do all electric instead.

Personally, I love my gas stove, gas logs and gas heat.

[EDS_]

Many people are really silly and scared about things they know nothing about or learn about through movies or TV shows that's what. If we were smart we'd be burning natural gas in our cars and not gasoline.

[Aceraceae]

Very happy we have gas stovetop, heat, etc... Was forced to go without for several years and missed it dearly.

[loves2read]

the developer has the option to run/offer NG--
some areas were developed when there were no main lines close so it wasn't a viable option
some areas were developed when "all-electric" was deemed more modern/efficient and electricity was actually cheaper than NG

if you want that as an option you can certainly look for homes that only offer it--
just know that even if there is NG used often it might be only for the water heaters--not the cooktop--

[johnrex62]

Utility companies have long offered significant discounts for all electric properties and rebates to the builder/developer for planning communities and projects as all electric. It has little to do with personal attitudes toward gas. It is all about the dollars.

[Ralph_Kirk]

Originally Posted by loves2read

the developer has the option to run/offer NG--
some areas were developed when there were no main lines close so it wasn't a viable option
some areas were developed when "all-electric" was deemed more modern/efficient and electricity was actually cheaper than NG

if you want that as an option you can certainly look for homes that only offer it--
just know that even if there is NG used often it might be only for the water heaters--not the cooktop--

Even in the places I've seen gas heating (mostly older homes), it's usually only to the HVAC heater.

[TheOverdog]

I don't find natural gas to be that uncommon in the DFW area. I'm pretty sure all my friends have at least some natural gas in their house, and we live all around the metroplex. They only place i've lived so far that didn't have natural gas was apartments and a place in McKinney. My house has nat gas heater, hot water heater, fireplace, and hookups for a dryer. No cooktop but it wouldn't cost much to put it in.

[Rakin]

I've never met anyone here who's afraid of natural gas. It's much cheaper, cleaner and cooks better than electric.

All electric homes mostly disappeared in the 70's.

[Bruin85]

Originally Posted by Rakin

I've never met anyone here who's afraid of natural gas. It's much cheaper, cleaner and cooks better than electric.

All electric homes mostly disappeared in the 70's.

I agree with you. Me and my wife have always preferred gas because of the quick turn on & off for cooking and the fact that you can do a ton of cooking and the gas bill still seems to come in at a low figure whereas it doesn't take much of an increase in electric usage for the bill to go straight up. However, when we were looking for an apt to rent in Plano, they ALL had all electric kitchens, no gas at all. I asked several rental agents about that and they all said they didn't now why that was, except one, who told me that is because the air in Texas is very dry so gas is too dangerous to use due to the potential for fire because of the dry air. But that didn't sound right to me. Does anyone know why apt kitchens in Plano are always electric? Also, we plan on buying a house next year when our lease is up, so does that mean we are going to have a hard time finding a house with gas stove & heating?