PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA CHARLESTON CASE NO. 24-0704-G-P HOPE GAS, INC. Petition to convert farm-tap customers to propane, retain those customers as tariff customers, and for approval of related cost recovery proposals. NOTICE OF FILING and NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING On August 23, 2024, Hope Gas, Inc. (Hope), a public utility, filed with the Public Service Commission of West Virginia a Petition requesting authority to convert certain Hope farm-tap customers to propane (or electric, if desired by the customer), purchase and provide them with propane under Hope’s tariff, and recover the cost to supply propane and the expenses to convert customers to propane or electric service. Hope proposes to convert approximately 479 residential farm-tap customers located on Hope-owned gathering system pipelines and 150 farm-tap customers served off of pipelines owned by Diversified Gas and Oil Company, Pillar Energy, Noumenon Corp., and Pine Mountain Inc. that include 1,068 miles of gas lines located in the counties of Barbour, Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Jackson, Kanawha, Lewis, Marion, Mason, Monongalia, Pleasants, Ritchie, Roane, Taylor, Tyler, Upshur, Wetzel, Wirt, and Wood. The pipelines and farm-tap locations are identified in the Petition, which is on file and available for public inspection at the Commission’s offices at 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, West Virginia, and on the Commission’s website, www.psc.state.wv.us. Hope maintains that the pipelines can no longer provide safe, reliable, and economical gas service to the farm-tap customers or are in jeopardy of being unable to continue providing service. The pipelines are no longer necessary or useful to Hope’s provision of service to Hope customers and are uneconomical to continue to operate, maintain, or replace. Hope estimates that the cost to operate and maintain the pipelines will far exceed $10 million per year, and replacing the lines with new plastic pipelines will cost over $600 million. Hope projects that if approved, the cost to convert customers to propane or electric service will be approximately $6 million, or $10,000 per customer, plus $2,000 for propane storage and house lines. Hope does not seek a rate increase in this proceeding. Hope anticipates recovering the ongoing cost of supplying propane to the converted customers through Hope’s purchases gas adjustment (PGA) mechanism and PGA rates. Hope proposes to defer and recover the expenses incurred to convert customers to propane or electric service under W. Va. Code 24-3-7(d). A hearing will be held by the Public Service Commission, which will begin at 9:30 a.m. on December 9, 2024, in the Howard M. Cunningham Hearing Room at the Commission’s offices at 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, West Virginia. The Commission may cancel the hearing for good cause shown. Interested persons intending to attend the hearing should monitor the web docket. Anyone desiring to protest the relief requested by Hope may file a written protest or request to intervene in Case No. 24-0704-G-P, online, through the Commission website using the “Submit a Comment” link, by mail addressed to: Executive Secretary of the Public Service Commission at P.O. Box 812, 201 Brooks Street, Charleston, West Virginia 25323, or may appear at the hearing. Anyone desiring to protest the relief requested by Hope may file a written protest or request to intervene that briefly states the reason for the protest or request to intervene. Requests to intervene must comply with the rules on intervention set forth in the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure and must be filed within ten (10) days following the date of this publication unless otherwise modified by Commission order. The Commission will receive public comments throughout the entirety of the proceeding. All written comments and requests to intervene should state the case name and number and be addressed to Karen Buckley, Executive Secretary, P.O. Box 812, Charleston, West Virginia 25323. Public comments may also be filed online at http://vvww.psc.state.wv.us/scripts/onlinecomments/default.cfm by clicking the “Formal Case” link. HOPE GAS, INC LH-196311 11-5;2024
Legal Notices
TRUSTEE’S SALE OF VALUABLE REAL ESTATE The undersigned Substitute Trustee, by virtue of the authority vested in him by that certain Deed of Trust, dated March 8, 2022, and duly recorded in the Office of the Clerk of the County Commission of Kanawha County, West Virginia, in Book No. 4575, at Page 611, Bert C French, III did convey unto Chris Eller, Trustee(s), certain real property described in said Deed of Trust; and the beneficiary has elected to appoint Seneca Trustees, Inc., as Substitute Trustee; and default having been made under the aforementioned Deed of Trust, and the undersigned Substitute Trustee having been instructed by Gateway Mortgage, a division of Gateway First Bank to foreclose thereunder, will offer for sale at public auction at the front door of the Kanawha County Courthouse in Charleston, West Virginia, on December 10, 2024 at 10:00 AM the following described real estate, together with its improvements, easements and appurtenances thereunto belonging, situate in 15 – Elk District, Kanawha County, West Virginia, and more particularly described as follows: All that certain lot, tract or parcel of land, together with the improvements thereon and the appurtenances thereunto belonging, situate on Indian Creek in Elk District, Kanawha County, West Virginia, and being Lot No. Twenty Four (24) of “Mountaineer Heights,” being more fully described in Deed Volume 2527, at page 777, Map Nol. 47A and Parcel No. 19. Map No.: 47A Parcel No.: 19 At the time of the execution of the Deed of Trust, this property was reported to have an address of: 70 Chestnut Rd, Elkview, WV 25071-9517. The referenced real estate will be conveyed with no covenants of warranty, and subject to all covenants, restrictions, easements, rights of way and reservations which may be a matter of record in the aforesaid Clerk’s Office or visible upon the ground, all prior liens and encumbrances, including, without limitation, liens for real estate taxes, incinerator, sanitary and sewer charges. The purchasers at the sale shall be responsible for paying the recording costs and also the tax on the privilege of transferring real property (the cost of the tax stamp to be affixed to the deed). The purchasers shall be responsible for payment of all real estate taxes. The subject property will be sold in “AS IS” condition. The Substitute Trustee shall be under no duty to cause any existing tenant or person occupying the subject property to vacate said property. TERMS: $7000.00 in cash and/or certified funds as deposit at the time of sale with the balance due and payable within 30 days of the day of sale. FEDERAL TAX LIEN: In the event that there are Federal Tax Liens against the property, the United States would have the right to redeem the property within a period of 120 days from the date of such sale or the period allowable for redemption under local law, whichever is longer. Pursuant to the Deed of Trust, the Trustee may postpone the sale by public announcement at the time and place designated or by posting a notice of the same, and act by agent in the execution of the sale. The parties secured by the Deed of Trust reserve the right to purchase the property at such sale. SENECA TRUSTEES, INC. 5000 Coombs Farm Drive, Suite 104 Morgantown, WV 26508 (304) 413-0044 (304) 292-2918 Toll free: (888) 534-3132 Reference File No. 86501 LC-196170 11-05,12;2024