WESTFIELD – The Westfield Gas & Electric Department has entered into an agreement with Kinder-Morgan to secure additional natural gas to meet the needs of gas customers in the city.
The municipal utility currently has a cap of 5,400 dekatherms of supply from the Tennessee pipeline, but set a new demand peak of over 15,000 dekatherms on February 15 this winter.
WG&E Energy Supply Manager Tony Contrino said this morning that the Kinder-Morgan “allows us to have greater access to supply sources located outside New England.”
“It will allow us to provide a more reliable and economic supply of natural gas to our customers,” Contrino said. “Our load demand continues to grow, so we need additional capacity from the pipeline to serve the growing needs of our customers.”
Contrino said the additional Kinder-Morgan gas supple will be transported through the TENNOCO pipeline.
“A new pipeline will be constructed to feed existing pipelines,” Contrino said. “The new pipeline will intersect with the pipeline that feeds Westfield directly. The new pipeline will loop around (existing pipeline) constraints in New York state.”
Municipal Light Board Chairman Tom Flaherty said the long-term needs of the city and the whole New England Region is new pipeline capacity.
“When our demand exceeds 5,400 dekatherms, we have to go onto the market,” Flaherty said.
The market price of gas spikes during the winter because of high demand, and while the price of natural gas does not increase dramatically the cost of transporting spot market gas does significantly increase, as much as tenfold.
“We’re looking at whatever possibilities to increase natural gas capacity to meet the needs of 0our customers in Westfield,” Flaherty said this morning, “and in doing so it will stabilize the price of gas for our customers.”
A number of gas utility companies in Massachusetts yesterday formally agreed to transport natural gas for Kinder Morgan.
Those companies include National Grid, Colombia Gas of Massachusetts, Berkshire Gas Company, as well as the city of Westfield Gas & Electric Light Department.
According to ISO New England, New Englanders paid an additional $3 billion in electricity costs in the winter of 2013-to-2014 due to natural gas pipeline constraints.
