Columbia Gas requests rate increase from PUCO

Columbia seeks OK to replace connectors
It also wants fee, control of gas line

Friday, February 02, 2007
Plain Dealer

Columbia Gas of Ohio says it will seek state approval to replace the part that connects gas lines to meters at up to 400,000 homes. Home fires have been linked to the part, called a riser. The utility also will propose that it assume responsibility for the maintenance of the entire gas line from the street to the meter for all its more than 1.3 million customers. The customers own these lines.

In a document it will file today with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, Columbia will propose the $200 million replacement program for the gas line risers, said spokesman Ray Frank. The utility will ask the PUCO to consider a temporary fee that would cost Columbia customers between 52 cents and $1.23 monthly for an unknown number of months.

"The scope of this program far surpasses any our company has ever attempted," Columbia Gas President Jack Partridge said in a prepared statement. "But it's an absolute necessity from a public-safety standpoint. . . .

A riser is a section of plastic pipe that connects a home or building's outdoor gas meter to the underground line that runs from the company's pipeline at the street. Independent plumbing contractors install the parts when new homes are built.

PUCO inspectors have investigated four fires sparked by failed risers since 2000 that caused one death and $970,000 in property damages. On Jan. 3, PUCO Chairman Alan Schriber asked the state's utilities to begin inspecting risers at all customer meters.

The agency's outside study determined that only certain brands of risers that were assembled on the job site by contractors are prone to failure - and only if they were improperly assembled or assembled during extremely cold temperatures.

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