Panguitch residents are getting a second chance to see natural gas come to their community, one of the few areas in the state where such service is not available.
Natural gas was proposed in 1987, but residents felt it was too costly. An original estimated cost of $2.7 million for the system has been revised to $1.5 million by Mountain Fuel Supply Co.Panguitch City Manager Allen Henrie said Mountain Fuel will finance the system over a 15-year period.
The Panguitch line would tie in with an existing line in Dog Valley several miles north of the city. That line was installed several years ago from Indianola in Sanpete County to Cedar City, bringing natural gas for the first time to several southern Utah communities between those locations. Millard and Beaver counties were brought into Mountain Fuel's system a few years later, but it hasn't been available in Garfield County.
Henrie said city officials have been working for more than three years to get natural gas to Panguitch.
Carl Galbraith, Mountain Fuel customer service director, told Panguitch officials and about 75 residents who attended a recent meeting that there would be a surcharge to customers of $30 per month for the next 15 years to pay for costs of bringing the service to the city.
The rates for the gas would be the same as in Salt Lake City, however. Property owners wouldn't have to pay for the cost of lines to their properties but would pay a hookup fee of $144. This could be paid in $12 monthly payments.
Mountain Fuel officials, five of whom were at the meeting, explained that the projected costs to bring natural gas to Panguitch is based on a sign-up of 80 percent of the property owners. That would be 119 commercial and 595 residential users.
Those who sign up for the service would be required to convert at least one appliance to natural gas during the first two years.
Panguitch could get natural gas next summer and, if it comes within that time frame, it could be completed without tearing up streets again, Henrie said. It was the opinion of the city's residents that natural gas was at the top among critical needs of the community.
A sewer system was the second, but that was moved up on the project schedule and is being installed now.