Natural gas for households may be available soon

At the September 14 Council meeting, the TM commented on the Yankee Gas pipeline installation. I then commented:



Since Sept 14 I've gotten some additional information.

There are two likely extensions, one to Doolittle and one to Norton. The Doolittle extension is a bit complicated for a number of reasons. And at this point, there's no good reason to believe that households would be able to connect. But the Norton School extension is a different story.

With the regulator being installed at the Episcopal Church, the gas line headed south is appropriate for household hookups. And if the gas line is extended down North Brooksvale to Norton School, that pipeline would also be appropriate for household hookups.

And household hookups potentially have no initial cost. Instead, if the DPUC-regulated numbers make sense, a household may get the hookup free-of-charge... with Yankee Gas locking your house into a 15 year natural gas purchase agreement. This agreement would be for heat, not just stoves.

But that only benefits houses located directly on Route 42 and Route 10. In order to ensure the Town is working to provide a quality standard of living in Cheshire, I asked a few more questions.

One of Yankee's main cost considerations is cutting & repaving road. But if the town is repaving a road, there may be an opportunity for Yankee and the Town to work together to make NG available to other households.

I'm not sure which Route 42 feeder roads will be paved in the next year or two, but Broadview, Long Hill and Farmington Drive all come to mind as possibilities. So if you live in the area and your road has not yet been paved, you may want to learn more about this. And while I've got the Norton extension on my mind, I presume this collaborative effort could work on any Route 10 feeder roads that are south of the Episcopal Church.

Tim White