Many New York residents have been waiting for an outbreak of common sense in New York energy policy over the two years the state Climate Action Council has been discussing its plan to transition to a climate-neutral economy.

They’re still waiting, and shouldn’t hold their breath for common sense to break out any time soon.

The plan approved last week, as expected, includes no new gas service to existing buildings, beginning in 2030; no natural gas within newly constructed buildings, beginning in 2025; no new natural gas appliances for home heating, cooking, water heating, clothes drying beginning in 2035; no gasoline-automobile sales by 2035; and installation of onsite solar or joining a community renewables program by 2040. There is a lot of talk about incentives to help people make these transitions, and make no doubt those incentives will be necessary to get people to make the switch from fossil fuels to all-electric appliances, home heating and cooling and or driving.

What’s particularly troubling, however, is continued talk in the plan of punitive action if people aren’t making the switch quickly enough. Take, for example, the switch from gas furnaces or oil boilers to heat pumps. No one disputes heat pumps cost less to run each year than their natural gas counterparts. But the economics of switching to heat pumps don’t work for many families. A natural gas furnace can be had right now for a few thousand dollars. A heat pump can cost between $12,000 and $30,000 — which are you choosing if your furnace goes out a couple of weeks before Christmas and you can’t get a loan for a heat pump? Particularly galling, too, is the plan’s mention of encouraging cities to enact congestion pricing for parking to encourage people to take public transportation and walk rather than drive their cars. Such policies could be the death knell for small businesses in downtowns throughout the state.

Couple this with the continued warnings from the state Independent System Operator that costly upgrades are needed to upgrade the state’s electric grid to deliver the needed power for this transition to all-electric and one has to continue wondering if the timeline is too aggressive and costly. New York may indeed reduce its carbon footprint by implementing the Climate Action Council’s plan — because most of us won’t be able to afford to live here anymore.