National Fuel Gas used a hearing in the Pennsylvania senateTuesday to voice its opposition to the state’s gas deregulationbill. It is the only LDC to oppose the bill so far.

Dave Smith, senior vice president of National Fuel GasDistribution, said SB 601 is “ambiguous, internally inconsistentand capable of being interpreted in a way not only inconsistentwith the agreements reached by the Collaborative (to the extentthere was consensus), but injurious to reliability.”

Smith argued that the language in the bill could allow smallcommercial customers to select interruptible gas service, thenrequire LDCs to provide gas if the service is interrupted. “We areconcerned that to obtain a reduced price they will electinterruptible service without understanding the consequences. Inreality, these customers will continue to burn gas despite theinterruption by their supplier. We will have to provide that gaseven if, as would be expected, we did not retain interstatepipeline capacity for these customers.”

He was also quick to defend NFG as a company that supportschoice. He pointed to the Pennsylvania PUC’s recent approval ofNFG’s customer choice program, which extends the utility’s gaspilot to apply to all of its customers.

As NGI reported earlier this week, a representative from Connectivalso testified against the bill (See DailyGPI, March 22). Columbia Gas and PG Energy testified in favor ofthe bill.

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