|
 
|
|
||||
 |
 |
|||||
|
Member System Profiles: Holyoke Gas & Electric A founding member of APGA, the Holyoke Gas & Electric Department (HG&E) was created in 1902 to meet the utility needs of the nation’s first planned industrial city. Today, Holyoke still has a strong industrial presence with HG&E serving over 2500 commercial and industrial class customers representing 25% of its nominal load. However, like much of New England, Holyoke’s industries face significant competition from foreign plants which use lower-wage manufacturing workers. To help retain its industrial customer base, HG&E developed the Economic Development Discount Program to provide financial incentives to companies that locate or expand in the City. The program offers utility rate reductions for the first three years on the business’s new or increased utility load. In combination with HG&E’s competitive utility rates, programs like this have helped to keep the City’s industrial base thriving. Although HG&E is a relatively small utility system, it offers a wide variety of services to its 18,000 customers, delivering natural gas, electricity, district steam and fiber optic telecommunications services. HG&E serves approximately 11,000 customers with natural gas service. HG&E also operates an LNG vaporization plant at times of peak demand and uses natural gas to fire the supply boilers in its district steam system. In the current world of volatile natural gas prices, Holyoke is taking several measures to manage its exposure by trying to lower costs through futures, hedging and by working with several traders and marketers. As HG&E is at the end of the gas transportation pipeline in Massachusetts, their options for procuring gas are sometimes limited. HG&E also leases substantial underground natural gas storage reserves located in Pennsylvania.
There are only a handful of public gas systems in the Northeast region of the country, so HG&E has become a firm believer in the benefits of working with other utilities, especially other public gas utilities. The utility accomplishes this through arrangements such as joint action agencies and, of course, the APGA. The utility has remained an APGA member through the decades primarily for the APGA’s lobbying influence. They have also been very pleased by newer developments, such as the web-based APGA Ad Exchange. In the future, according to Dan Smith, Acting Gas Superintendent, “we would want to see more education on purchasing and risk management, as well as managing practices in a public environment.” Originally in February 22, 2006 Public Gas News
|
||||||
|
201 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Suite C-4 Washington DC 20002 | Tel 202.464.2742 | 800.927.4204 | Fax 202.464.0246 | Email Us
Copyright 2004 American Public Gas Association. All rights reserved. |
||||||
