DETROIT – As Michigan Public Service Commission staff have become aware of a number of gas service lines servicing residential or commercial gas customers connected directly to gas storage field, transmission pipelines, regulated and unregulated gathering lines, oil and gas wells, and gas processing facilities, the commission has opened an inquiry into gas safety issues.
The inquiry on natural gas distribution utilities, gas gathering or transmission pipeline operators and gas storage system operators seeks to determine three major points:
The number and locations or residences or other structures receiving gas under the same or similar circumstances as previously outlined;
The specific type of interconnection and source of gas for each connection to a residence or other structure; and
The safety equipment currently installed at each connection.
The connections often occur when the pipeline or storage field operator provides natural gas to a property owner in exchange for paying for a right-of-way or easement across the property, the PSC said in a statement, and such facilities may not be compliant with the Michigan Gas Safety Standards.
Providers will have until December 1 to submit their responses to questions in the table in attachment two of the order (case U-17585), and providers that do not have connections as described in the order shall respond by indicating so, the PSC said.
ALPENA POWER COMPANY: The PSC on Wednesday also approved a settlement agreement authorizing Alpena Power Company to implement its 2016-17 energy optimization plan resulting in a decrease of 7 cents a month on the bills of residential customers using 500 kilowatt-hours of electricity a month, effective January 2016 (case U-17770).
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