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Peoples to host open house

Gallitzin meeting will allow residents to ask questions, express concerns

Gallitzin area residents with questions about newly available natural gas service have an opportunity to get answers.

Peoples Natural Gas representatives are scheduled to host an open house-style meeting from 3 to 6 p.m. today at the Gallitzin Community Building, 411 Convent St.

About 120 residents recently transitioned to natural gas service following a lengthy Peoples Natural Gas expansion in the area, said Luke Ravenstahl, the gas company’s vice president of sales and marketing.

“Gas was available to the entire community in December of 2016,” he said.

Today’s open house is scheduled to allow residents to ask questions and express concerns, Ravenstahl said.

At a similar gathering earlier this month, some residents became angry when they found out natural gas customers in neighboring communities pay a lower delivery rate, borough secretary Irene Szynal said.

In Gallitzin, residents who recently switched to natural gas pay a delivery rate of about $7.14 per each 1,000 cubic feet of gas, Szynal said. In nearby Cresson, they pay little more than $3 for that amount, she said.

The average customer uses 90,000 cubic feet per year or 7.5 mcf per month, Peoples officials previously said.

The delivery rate is the cost of getting gas to a customers’ homes, including infrastructure. It is separate from the gas recovery rate — the cost Peoples pays for the gas itself.

On Monday, Ravenstahl explained the reason delivery rates differ.

“When we first started marketing in Gallitzin, there was a fee obviously to build the main line,” he said.

And the state Public Utility Commission limits how money can be spent to bring service to each customer, Ravenstahl said.

To offset some of those costs, project leaders initially proposed a monthly fee of $70 — $55 for the main line and $15 for service lines — that would appear on customers’ bills for up to 25 years, he said.

In order for People’s to expand into Gallitzin, a certain number residents had to show interest in becoming customers. However, many opposed the $70-per-month charge.

“It was met with opposition,” Ravenstahl said.

To build interest, Peoples officials decided instead to contract Gallitzin service through a subsidiary company called Peoples TWP.

Working through TWP allowed the company to spend nearly double the amount of money on each customer during the installation process, Ravenstahl said.

Due to the switch, more than 500 local residents showed an interest in transitioning to natural gas, he said.

“If we didn’t add them as TWP customers, the project wouldn’t have gotten off of the ground,” Ravenstahl said.

But the switch also means customers must pay TWP rates, which are higher, he said. Ravenstahl said that was made clear at the project’s onset.

“There are some folks that are claiming that they were unaware or are suggesting that we are charging them more than we told them we would,” he said.

Even at the higher rate, Ravenstahl said natural gas likely is cheaper than other heating methods. He said he expects more of the 500 interested residents to tie into the system in the coming months.

“We would hope that folks honor their commitments and their intentions, but if somebody would change their mind, there is no penalty to do that,” he said.

Szynal is one of the residents who made the switch to natural gas.

“I wanted the convenience of not having to worry about it,” she said, noting that maintaining and filling an oil tank could be a lot of work.

Natural gas, she said, is easy.

“It’s just like electricity; it’s always there,” Szynal said.

Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.

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