Residential

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has set for hearing a complaint by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) against Range Resources Corp. alleging methane contamination of residential water wells in Parker County in the Barnett Shale play (see Shale Daily, Dec. 9). The hearing date is to be Jan. 10. “Because this matter has now been set for hearing, and the commission will sit in judgment of the facts, the commissioners cannot comment on the case,” said RRC General Counsel Lindil Fowler. “However, RRC staff expects both parties, the EPA as well as Range Resources representatives, to appear before hearings examiners and testify as to the allegations…”

The Pittsburgh City Council was scheduled to vote Tuesday on an ordinance with questionable legal premises that would prohibit natural gas drilling in the city which is surrounded by the Marcellus Shale.

The Marcellus Shale could hold as much as 500 Tcf of natural gas, according to some. That gas is conveniently close to markets in the Midwest and Northeast; however, the natural gas liquids (NGL) associated with some Marcellus production are far from what is considered to be their ideal home, namely the U.S. Gulf Coast. And that’s a problem, analysts have noted lately.

More than a week after an exploding natural gas pipeline ripped through a residential neighborhood in the San Francisco Bay Area, natural gas remained a headline-grabber, involving speculation about city sewer work and oil liquids in the pipeline somehow contributing to the explosion and fire, not to mention various politicians proposing new safety measures. With the heightened attention, routine gas utility distribution pipeline breaks and reports of gas odors were being elevated to the status of potential major news events.

Low gas prices mean residential gas bills will be lower, making them easier to pay by cash-strapped consumers, noted analysts at Fitch Ratings. This should alleviate some risk of rising bad debt expense among gas utilities.

Low gas prices mean residential gas bills will be lower, making them easier to pay by cash-strapped consumers, noted analysts at Fitch Ratings. This should alleviate some risk of rising bad debt expense among gas utilities.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved a $77.8 million refund for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania customers. The PUC voted 5-0 to approve the refunds to residential, commercial and industrial customers who received service between Oct. 1, 2008 and Sept. 30, 2009. The amount received by each customer will vary depending on usage. According to Columbia’s filing, the overcollection resulted from a large, sustained reduction in gas prices, which occurred after Columbia had filed its quarterly adjustment. Those customers will receive a one-time credit on their bills during the November billing cycle. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania serves about 413,000 customers in 26 Pennsylvania counties.

While the major commodity exchanges were divided over the effectiveness of broad-based position limits, the head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Tuesday indicated that the agency was clearly headed in this direction for trading in the energy futures markets.

A combination of rising natural gas prices, the stumbling residential housing market and general economic weakness has led to above-average increases in past-due payments at many local distribution companies (LDC), particularly in the eastern United States, according to Moody’s Investors Service.