Vectren plans to annually ask the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to allow the company to recover costs of the program from customers. Company officials estimate it could cost up to $5 million a year for the project to replace or modify an estimated 60,000 risers identified as being a risk for developing leaks.
Vectren hopes there will be a long-term benefit of reducing annual maintenance costs of its natural gas delivery system.
“Because we are replacing the service risers that could be prone to failure, if we could replace all those, we wouldn’t anticipate as many leak calls,” company spokeswoman Chase Kelley said.
The cost to consumers for the riser project will be in addition to the 3.3 percent base rate increase that the PUCO granted Vectren in January, which will give the company an additional $14.8 million in annual revenues.
In 2007, the PUCO ordered utilities across the state to survey the risers in their service areas. Laboratory tests done for a PUCO staff analysis found that some of the risers could leak gas. The utilities, including Vectren, have since begun replacing or repairing those risers.
Vectren devoted its early efforts this year to replacing the risers believed to pose the greatest hazard, Kelley said.
It is separate from another ongoing Vectren project to replace old steel and iron underground gas delivery lines with plastic pipe. That project could take as long as 20 years and could cost $10 million to $12 million annually for at least the next five years, Vectren officials have estimated.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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