Natural Gas: It’s clean. It’s efficient. It’s dependable.
And now it’s a better deal than ever!
Hartselle Utilities wants you to experience the comfort and convenience of natural gas. Visit our Incentive Programs to learn how switching to natural gas can put cash in your pocket and a smile on your face!
HU's South Gate Station, completed in 2007, increased our capacity and improved system reliability.
Natural Gas Department Work in Progress
Gas System Master Plan
System wide assessment of Gas System
Gas main relocation
Where: Railroad Street
Part of the Longhorn Pass Downtown Bypass Project
Cast iron main replacement
Where: Mynatt/Hill Street(s)
To reinforce system integrity
Bethel Road Construction Update
In early fall, HU crews completed Phase 2 of planned sewer repairs in the Bethel Road area in preparation for the new high school, says HU Engineering Services Manager Glen Partlow. Next, utility crews will relocate water, gas and electric service so that Bethel Road can be widened.
Work to relocate water mains began in December, and is expected to last about 11 weeks, Partlow says. One road closure was expected, and was planned during the winter break to minimize impact on school traffic at F.E. Burleson Elementary School.
Moving the natural gas mains, which will begin in January, will be done by directional boring, where possible, to minimize digging, Partlow reports. “We might go as much as 500 feet with pipe, without disturbing the ground.”
All of HU’s relocations are scheduled to be completed before April, when the City will open the widening and repaving portion of the project up for bids.
2” steel main replacement
Where: Vaughn Bridge Road (Barclift St. to Lakewood St.)
To reinforce system integrity
Natural Gas Department News
Bethel Road Construction Update
In early fall, HU crews completed Phase 2 of planned sewer repairs in the Bethel Road area in preparation for the new high school, says HU Engineering Services Manager Glen Partlow. Next, utility crews will relocate water, gas and electric service so that Bethel Road can be widened.
Work to relocate water mains began in December, and is expected to last about 11 weeks, Partlow says. One road closure was expected, and was planned during the winter break to minimize impact on school traffic at F.E. Burleson Elementary School.
Moving the natural gas mains, which will begin in January, will be done by directional boring, where possible, to minimize digging, Partlow reports. “We might go as much as 500 feet with pipe, without disturbing the ground.”
All of HU’s relocations are scheduled to be completed before April, when the City will open the widening and repaving portion of the project up for bids.
Work Begun on Southwest Gas Loop
The last remaining goal for the Natural Gas system set in the 2008 Master Plan was to build a loop in the southwest portion of the system to create redundancy and improve reliability.
HU crews have started construction on that loop, says Gas System Operator Tony Vest. The loop is divided into two stages, and when complete will follow Isley Road at Hwy. 36 to Hopewell Road, around Sharpley Road and S. Johnson Chapel Road back to Danville High School. The first stage, which will be completed in 2012, will end at Randolph Poultry Farm on Sharpley Road.
“Once the loop is completed,” says Vest, “it will create a two-way feed; we’ll have access to natural gas from two outside sources instead of just one. This will help us balance our load capacity and allow us to add more customers.”
HU has connected seven poultry houses to the loop, says Vest, and natural gas will be available to at least seven more. “Switching to natural gas has the potential to save poultry farmers a good bit of money,” he explains. “One farmer who switched told me that he saved over $10,000 per year in his energy costs.”
Vest gratefully acknowledged Randolph Poultry Farm for working with HU to construct part of the new main across their property.
“We were able to purchase an easement from Randolph to cut across 40 acres,” Vest said. “That saved us 17,000 feet and about four weeks of construction time – a considerable savings for the utility.”
HU’s natural gas department currently has 205 miles of gas main and serves 4,033 customers.
Considering A Switch?
Hartselle Utilities offers incentive programs for customers who replace electric or propane appliances with natural gas.
Residential customers who install a natural gas water heater receive a one-time payment of $100. For a clothes dryer the payment is $75, and a natural gas range is $25.
Hartselle Utilities will waive the tap fee, normally $700, for any customer that has gas plumbing in place and a qualifying natural gas appliance connected. The appliances that qualify for a complete tap fee waiver are water heaters, clothes dryers and furnaces. Fifty percent of the fee is waived for a natural gas range.
For commercial customers, Hartselle Utilities will waive the tap fee for a connected gas load of at least 40 cfh or a gas water heater.
For details, contact Hartselle Utilities Customer Service Manager Terri Harris at 773-3340 or email tharris@hartselleutilities.org.
Natural Gas Prices Expected To Be Lower This Winter
Hartselle Utilities has locked in the majority of its expected natural gas purchases for this winter at a significantly lower cost than it paid last year, says Accounting and Finance Manager Bob Sittason.
“Our costs for natural gas – whether they are increases or decreases – are passed directly to our ratepayers,” Sittason explains. “We can’t control the costs of water and electricity,” he continues. “Natural gas is the one service we offer where we have some ability to control our costs, and we try to take advantage of cost savings every chance we can.”
Hartselle Utilities could buy natural gas as needed on the open market, Sittason explains, but the costs for that are generally higher and more volatile. Instead, he uses a hedging program to buy gas futures – which specify that Hartselle Utilities will buy a specified amount by a specific date – when prices are favorable.
Sittason looks at a five-year historical usage for the winter months and tries to lock in 80 to 85 percent of that amount if markets are favorable.
“Because of our ability to hedge,” he says, “we’ve been able to lock in 84 percent of our five-year average at a price that is 12.25 percent less than the same futures last year.”
Sittason explains that he uses the five-year historical average for projections for water, sewer and natural gas, because that tends to take out peaks and valleys caused by weather, the economy and other forces affecting usage.
The economy – primarily the lack of industrial demand – and the abundance of natural gas have helped prices, he says. “This is the fourth year in a row that we’ve been able to lock in natural gas cheaper than the prior year.”
In the summer of 2005 much of the country’s natural gas drilling was centered in the Gulf of Mexico. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita destroyed offshore oil and gas platforms and damaged pipelines, causing natural gas prices to skyrocket. Now, Sittason says, new drilling techniques have moved more natural gas production onshore because of a new technique called fracting. These inland resources, explains Sittason, have minimized the impact of hurricanes on natural gas supplies and prices and have increased the nation’s natural gas supply.
“Some industry experts estimate that we have enough inland underground natural gas reserves to meet 100 years worth of demand,” Sittason explains.
Of course, Sittason cautions, that while natural gas prices are expected to be lower, if a customer uses more energy than last year they will not see a decrease in their utility bill.
Water Rates Increasing Slightly, Natural Gas Decrease Expected
HU water rates will increase October 1, 2010 says HU Accounting and Finance Manager Bob Sittason. The increase will be 2.7 percent, which for the average HU water customer will be about 43 cents a month, he says.
Last summer, Sittason explains, Decatur Utilities – from which HU purchases all of its water – approved a three-year annual rate increase. This is the second of the three increases.
“This is a straight pass-through increase,” he explains. “We are not adding anything to it.
“The actual increase is 9.28 cents per thousand gallons,” he says. “Our average residential customer uses 4,667 gallons a month.”
At the same time water rates are increasing, Sittason reports that he expects natural gas rates this winter to decrease.
“We’ve locked in 81 percent of our expected usage at a cost that is 19.5 percent lower than our natural gas costs were last year,” he explains. HU typically ‘locks in,’ or agree to buy, at least 80 percent of projected winter natural gas demand, based on a five-year historical average of actual demand between October and March.
“Depending on the winter weather and lifestyle habits, customers should see a decrease in their natural gas bill this winter,” Sittason says.
Natural Gas Expanding to Danville Middle High School
Hartselle Utilities has expanded natural gas service to Danville Middle High School. The natural gas system replaces one of Morgan County School System’s last coal-burning fire boilers, along with ten large propane tanks previously used to heat the school, says Tony Vest, HU Gas System Operator.
During the construction, HU crews installed 5,300 feet of six-inch polyethylene pipe, 1,000 feet of 4-inch pipe, 500 feet of 2-inch pipe, and 1,000 feet of one and a half-inch pipe, to extend service one mile from Danville Elementary to the middle high school campus.
HU ran natural gas pipeline to the elementary school last year; this latest expansion brings the system within four miles of the end of the “loop” on the western side of the county.
“This is part of our long-range Master Plan,” says Vest. “It benefits the school system, and brings Hartselle Utilities closer to our long-range goal of a complete loop around our service area.”
A completed loop, which would allow natural gas to be supplied from either direction, will allow HU to offer natural gas to more customers throughout the system, he explains.
The Morgan County School System contributed to the project costs for the installation, and they anticipate significant annual savings.
While HU crews installed the pipeline outside of the school, school system maintenance crews handled interior modifications.
The project was expected to be completed in late September, long before Hartselle’s first cold snap. After all the pipeline is installed and interior work completed, Vest explains, crews will pressurize the system to check for leaks. After a thorough safety and system check is completed, HU crews will turn on the natural gas and energize the system, Vest explains.