Pennsylvania’s six largest natural gas utilities spent $11 B on pipeline replacement programs from 2013 through 2025, according to a new Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC) report examining infrastructure investment and residential gas costs.
Pennsylvania’s six largest natural gas utilities spent $11 B on pipeline replacement programs from 2013 through 2025, according to a new Building Decarbonization Coalition (BDC) report examining infrastructure investment and residential gas costs.
The report found that per-mile pipeline replacement spending more than doubled over the past decade, increasing from approximately $1.2 MM to $2.8 MM. BDC estimates that equates to about $40,000 per residential customer for every new mile of gas main installed.
The spending was enabled in part by Pennsylvania’s Act 11, enacted in 2012 to allow utilities to accelerate capital investment in gas distribution systems and recover eligible infrastructure costs through customer surcharges. BDC said infrastructure-related delivery charges now account for roughly two-thirds of a typical residential gas bill in Pennsylvania and identified pipeline spending as a major contributor to an average 67% increase in monthly bills among customers of the six utilities over the past decade.
The report covers Peoples Natural Gas, Philadelphia Gas Works, National Fuel Gas, UGI Utilities, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania and PECO Energy. It recommends revising Act 11 to prioritize safety-critical infrastructure and requiring utilities to evaluate alternatives before replacing gas pipelines.
BDC also called for long-term gas system planning, greater infrastructure and rate-case transparency, and coordination between gas and electric utilities. The group recommends considering neighborhood-scale electrification and thermal energy networks in areas where aging gas infrastructure would otherwise require replacement.