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fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine

Member

Gas line extension

We'd like to get natural gas service to our home. The gas company actually said that there's a main on the main road but none in our subdivision. Most people use propane and oil. My wife called the gas company and they said a representative would contact her but the residents would have to request service from the gas company before they think about extending the line.

I find it amazing that they wouldn't even advertise or offer this. But this is where we are. Has anyone had any experience with getting a gas company to expand their service area?

I realize it's a long shot but the fact that there's a main already is encouraging.

jack b
Gone Fishing
MVM
join:2000-09-08
Cape Cod

jack b

MVM

If enough people in your development express interest in taking service, the gas co may give consideration to a main extension.

They weigh their costs vs estimated revenue potential, and if the payback numbers are favorable to them, they would do it.

Good luck getting a sufficient number of your neighbors interested.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88 to fifty nine

Member

to fifty nine
said by fifty nine:

I find it amazing that they wouldn't even advertise or offer this. But this is where we are. Has anyone had any experience with getting a gas company to expand their service area?

I realize it's a long shot but the fact that there's a main already is encouraging.

No. This isn't communism, this is deregulation. In America, you are lucky you have power (thanks Communist WPA for giving us power outside of grassless cities a century ago.). I'll just tell you what they will charge, for a buried utility $1K to $2K per 100 feet. Minimum charge $10K. Overhead utility $500 to $1.5K per 100 feet. If your state requires off duty cops to be rented for any public road construction, that is the high end rage of my estimates. The price is for any utility company. That includes their corporate profit/defense contractor pricing. If you sign a contract for natural gas of 10 years or more they will let you pay (construction cost-10 years of distribution fees) instead of construction cost according to »www.pseg.com/family/psea ··· riff.pdf .

CylonRed
MVM
join:2000-07-06
Bloom County
·Metronet

CylonRed to fifty nine

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to fifty nine
Back in my old neighborhood - a short street stopped at a field/large estate. The person who had the land/house sold it to a developer and they added 60-70 new houses. The developers attached a road to the short road that had previously dead-ended. There were about 5 houses on this short street and they used fuel oil like everyone else in the older neighborhood.

The folks on the short street asked the local gas company to extend the line for the houses on the short street. From what I understood to have happened - all of the houses on the older street agreed to pay for the cost of extending the line. They gas company decided to extend it if all of the houses got the hookup.

They very well might extend it but it is likely the residences have to pay for it (which could be a couple grand for each house). They will NOT do it for one house - it is going to have to be worth their time. Could very well be they don't advertise it because very few would actially take them up on it.

cypherstream
MVM
join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
·PenTeleData
ARRIS SB8200

cypherstream to fifty nine

MVM

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When I moved in 2010 I had oil. After asking about converting I was told while most of our development had gas, the line terminated 500 feet from me at the next corner. In the late 70's there was a momentarium on installing gas lines, so it was stopped and never revisited. They put my development on a list and said if more neighbors asked it would be moved up. A year later our whole section received notice that gas lines were going to be installed in the summer so by winter we would be ready to convert. They offered $1000 rebate on equipment if you committed and free install of the lateral line from your house to the main. Just had to pay a $125 meter install / activation fee. It took a few months and they used horizontal boring machines to install yellow hdpe pipe in the aprons (between sidewalk and street).

Needless to say it was the BEST investment ever. Going from a mid 70's era oil furnace and AC to a 96% afue goodman natural gas and 16 seer AC unit. My loan payment plus years worth of fuel make me break even. When my loan is paid off its pure ROI compared to what I paid for oil. Not to mention I also got a new gas water heater to replace the oil one, and got rid of the unsightly tank in my garage. I now have room for a meat freezer in the garage in its place. Space better well utilized!

I didn't get a Nest thermostat or anything... It's a Honeywell vision pro 8000. Furnace is 2 stage and the stat controls it well. The nest came out like 2 or 3 months after my conversion! Bad timing!

This year they completed installing gas lines another block over and also a cul de sac. I heard that they may have gotten grants from the American recovery and investment act and they are using that to help convert. I also got money back last year from income taxes in 2011 for the energy efficient improvement.

I plan on eventually replacing the electric range for a gas one at some point. The line is T'd off right below the kitchen for that future purpose.

fifty nine
join:2002-09-25
Sussex, NJ

fifty nine

Member

For us it's easy. We have propane and it's easy to convert over the appliances. We may take the opportunity to replace the boiler though.

BUt the bad news is that a rep called back my wife and said they don't have lines in the area... so now we're getting conflicting info. Had my hopes up, oh well.
XXXXXXXXXXX1
Premium Member
join:2006-01-11
Beverly Hills, CA

XXXXXXXXXXX1

Premium Member

fifty nine: buy your tank. If you own your tank you could potentially save a boatload of money. We've posted on this before, so you know how the propane game works.

If you'd be willing to pay to have natural gas installed, why not investigate owning your own tank? It would be far less overall work and would potentially reap heavy savings.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

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My own experience found that a Natural Gas distributor would have to cost justify the installation cost. I live in a development where a high pressure natural gas line passes the development along the highway in front of the development. When the developer started planning the 99 home development in 2003, a gas company representative met with the developer and offered to install a high pressure gas distribution system throughout the development at no cost to the developer. The gas company offered the developer an incentive about $1,400.00 per home if the developer guaranteed that 95% of the homes would be built with natural gas for space heating, water heating and the default range was a gas range.

The development was a tract home development and the developer did not want to modify the home plans for gas plumbing. The developer believed that by installing high SEER heat pumps the cost for heating would be comparable to the cost of natural gas. I contacted the gas company in 2007 to determine the cost to install a gas line for a generator. I was advised that the cost to install a gas line to my home would be prohibitive because I was about 800 feet from the highway. Even if all the homeowners along my street agreed to convert to gas appliances the gas company could not justify the installation would be cost. In developments that were already completed the installation cost is much higher than installing a gas distribution system on unimproved land.

In New Jersey the likelihood that each homeowner will use enough gas each year, might make it easier to prove out the cost effectiveness of extending the gas line.