In Maine, there are some large pipeline installations going on, but there is still a lot of work to do. It is still fairly common for one street to have the option of cheap natural gas service (With zero installation fees!), and it not to be available at any price one block away. Of course, I’m sure many people would switch to it if it were available. What can be done to improve this situation?
Move a block closer to the pipe.
More Taco Bells?
New England is interesting that way, AFAIK main place where there are non-isolated/rural areas with really cold weather where you can’t get natural gas service. I guess it’s changing, which makes sense as gas has gotten cheaper and especially since PA is now the No.2 nat gas producing state and not very far away.
But I guess if you’re building ‘last mile’ pipe networks you build them first based on best return potential then offer special deals to consumers on the network to get that return going as fast as possible once you’ve made the investment. It might be less profitable to build to more places at once though not offering ‘free’ installation. You might not have the cash flow or borrowing potential to build in more places at once either. Or it might be a regulatory or other bottleneck. Presumably you’d eventually build out to block 2 if it’s really equally profitable in the long run as on block 1, and NG stays as attractive to the consumer in general.
This is my thought. The choice to live in a rural area has benefits and drawbacks. One should not be able to enjoy the benefits while at the same time asking the taxpayers to subsidize not having to suffer the drawbacks.
Either move out of the sticks or buy kerosene and propane.
This bugs the crap out of me. Our street is between two pipelines. The houses a couple-hundred feet away have piped-in gas. But the petition to have the neighbourhood piped for gas fell through. Apparently you have to use Cascade Gas’s expensive trench diggers instead of hiring your own, less-expensive contractor.
Natural gas is a public utility and traditionally the local government signs a franchise agreement with the natural gas provider. Such a franchise agreement would include the area covered.
In most states, the law requires utilities to allow interconnection and wholesale selling of their products.
So incorporate your neighbors into the "5th Street Gas Co-op"m hire your own trench digging company to plumb up the houses, and then connect in to Cascade Gas pipes as a wholesale customer.
There is a reason for that. Who will be maintaining the pipe line once it is installed ?
If you expect Cascade Gas to do so then they wish to have their trained employees do the work to their specifications using pipe that meets their requirements and so on. Once all that is done per their control then they are willing to assume operation of the pipeline and the liability for it all.
All of that is the reason for the extra expense you not wish to pay.
Asking Cascade Gas to accept the work of someone else and then assume the liability of the operation and maintenance is not realistic.
Johnny L.A. another thing occurred to me.
I would bet good money that the Cascade Gas employees are unionized. Are the employees of your own less-expensive contractor unionized ? If so, therefore in part you are complaining about the excessive cost of unionized employees.