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Dominion Energy, lawmakers want to add fees to Utahns’ heating bills to fund new gas lines in rural communities

Related Topics: Dominion Energy, Gas, Funding, Fee

Utah residential customers could see their natural gas bills rise $3 to $7 per year under a proposal to subsidize rural communities that yearn for natural gas service, such as Kanab, Green River and Garden City.

These towns lack the customer base to justify construction of pipelines, which cost up to $1 million a a mile, so the idea behind HB422, sponsored by Rep. Mike Noel, is to tap existing customers to help foot the bill, Dominion Energy executives told lawmakers Thursday.

“We are growing with a whole bunch of tourists, and in my town, dogs,” Noel, R-Kanab, told colleagues Thursday, referring to Kanab’s largest employer, Best Friends Animal Sanctuary.