More than 600 Homeowners Seek to Convert to Gas Heat

More than 600 homeowners have applied to convert to natural gas heat since the city and Columbia Gas in January.

Ben Stankewicz, assistant to Mayor Tom Perciak, said the city has received 579 applications to tie into a gas line this year. Other residents sent their application directly to Columbia Gas, so while an exact tally is not available, it is well over 600, he said.

Another flurry of requests followed a May 25 to allow  First Energy to phase out deep discounts for customers in all-electric homes over the next six years.

"We got a number of calls the day after that from people asking if they could still get an application (to convert to gas)," Stankewicz said.

So many people in the Meadowood subdivision have applied that the ball is rolling on a conversion plan there. Stankewicz said Columbia is setting up a meeting with a Meadowood contingent.

"They could actually get them hooked up by fall," he said.

In other neighborhoods, Columbia Gas engineers are determining which streets are likely candidates for conversion.

At a meeting at the Ehrnfelt Recreation Center Jan. 20, Columbia Gas representatives told about 300 residents that if enough homeowners on their street commit to tapping in, the company will extend a line down their street for free.

Officials said the company gives a 100-foot credit to each customer who wants to install a gas line to his or her home. 

That means if a 1,000-foot line is needed to service a street, and 10 people on the street sign up  receive natural gas, Columbia picks up the cost of the main line, as well as the cost of the service lines to the home and the meters.

Homeowners pay a contractor to pipe gas into their homes and convert their appliances to run on gas. 

Stankewicz said several residents who already had gas lines on their street have connected to the service this year.