CMP Natural Gas, a joint venture between Energy East Corp.(formerly NYSEG) and Central Maine Power Group, started servingcustomers in Windham, ME, yesterday, giving CMP Natural a bigadvantage over Bangor Gas, the other company vying to distributegas in the state.

Although CMP Natural is only serving Windham presently, it plansto expand distribution to 35 cities and towns within the Bethel,greater Bangor, Waterville and Augusta, as well as the Falmouth andBath coastal communities before the end of the year. None of thesecities or towns previously had a gas distribution-system in place.

The company is buying gas from companies with capacity onPortland Natural Gas Transmission pipeline (PNGT). Tim Kelley, aCMP spokesman, said the company is in negotiations with PNGT topurchase its own capacity on the line. He added the MaritimesPipeline, which begins service next year, will bolster CMP’sexpansion efforts.

Kelley said the number of customers CMP hopes to sign or howmuch gas the company intends to distribute once the system iscomplete is confidential information. He did say the number ofcustomers would be “several hundred thousand.”

The announcement is a setback for Bangor Gas, a joint venturebetween Bangor Hydro and Sempra Energy. Bangor has plans toimplement a competing distribution program, but Denise King, aspokesperson for the company, said service will not begin until theMaritimes pipeline goes into service. King added that Bangor isstill confident about its chances. “They [CMP Natural] say they’regoing to distribute in Bangor, but we’re the ones who already havepipe in the ground.”

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