Opinion ID: 4912575
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Heading: Suburban builds a 4.9-mile pipeline extension

Text: {¶ 3} The Suburban Natural Gas Company provides natural gas distribution services to residential customers in Delaware and Marion Counties, an area that has been experiencing significant population growth. On one extremely cold day in the winter of 2015, pressure in part of Suburban’s pipeline dropped below 100 pounds per square inch gauge (“psig”). This was concerning—we are told 100 psig is considered the minimum pressure necessary for that part of the pipeline to maintain 2 January Term, 2021 safe, reliable service. At lower pressure levels, there is a risk of the pipeline freezing over, causing an outage that could take weeks to repair. {¶ 4} Suburban hired an engineering firm to look at the problem. The engineers performed modeling work, examining Suburban’s system and taking into account projected growth in Suburban’s customer base. Ultimately, they determined that by 2018 on an extremely cold day (when the demand for gas was at its highest), pressure in the pipeline would dip to 104 psig, just above the 100psig minimum operating pressure. By the end of 2019, the engineers projected, the pressure could drop below 78 psig. {¶ 5} Based on the results of this modeling, Suburban decided to build a 4.9-mile pipeline extension that would be completed in time for the 2018-2019 winter. Pipeline construction must be approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board. See R.C. 4906.04. But by keeping the extension below five miles, Suburban was able to take advantage of an expedited approval process before the Power Siting Board. See R.C. 4906.03(F)(3); Ohio Adm.Code 4906-6-10. The Power Siting Board approved the extension. The board’s staff report warned, however, that the extension might be longer than needed to serve current and future customers and that Suburban’s cost recovery hinged on being able to demonstrate in a future rate case that the extension was not overbuilt. After receiving the Power Siting Board’s signoff, Suburban built the extension and placed it into service on February 22, 2019.