PUBLIC SEVICE
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://www.psc.state.wv.
us/scripts/
onlinecomments/
default.cfm by clicking the “Formal Case” link.
HOPE GAS, INC
16158