Natural gas service resumes for most in Kingston

Published 12:23 am Sunday, November 26, 2017

 

NATCHEZ — Services have resumed for most of the approximately 150 residences affected by a natural gas outage Thursday night in the Kingston community.

District 2 Supervisor David Carter said services resumed for 50 of the affected residences Thursday night, but that other houses could not be relit until Friday morning.

Email newsletter signup

Carter said he is only aware of one resident who does not currently have access to natural gas, but that employees were addressing that circumstance Saturday.

The Kingston community is currently being served by two tanker trucks, since the natural gas line previously used was abandoned last week due to disrepair.

The line that ran from Kingston to Cloverdale was built approximately 90 years ago, Carter said, and was only expected to last 40 years.

The outage comes amid existing plans to transfer the Mississippi River Gas customers from natural gas to Pinnacle Propane, a conversion that is nearly two months behind schedule.

Carter said the process is being delayed by several customers in the Kingston area who have not yet had their houses checked for compatibility with propane service.

Pinnacle Propane produces a hybrid of propane and air that burns similarly to natural gas. Residences would need little, if any, modification to existing fixtures in order to complete the conversion, company officials have said. Delta Fuel is providing the house inspections and any necessary repairs to make the houses compatible with propane gas at no cost for customers.

Until these last few houses are evaluated, Carter said the new service could not be turned on.

Customers will continue to pay bills through Mississippi River Gas. Though Pinnacle Propane costs 20-percent more than natural gas, Carter said he has been working on a solution to level out payments for customers for three to four years after conversion.

American Midstream, which replaced an existing pipeline stretching from Franklin Parish to Adams County, set aside settlement money to subsidize the product’s expense for the next three to four years.

The intent, Carter said, is to make payments easier on residences during the conversion.

How much money was set aside from American Midstream is still unknown, Carter said.

The subsidy likely wouldy take the form of a price cap for Kingston customers, he said.

“I had to do a lot of juggling to get it worked out,” Carter said, “but I think it will be a help to customers.”