On Mar 20, 2:50*pm, "Tomsic" wrote:
"Edge" wrote in message

...







I have been following these contributions to my thread. There is a lot
of debate, but there is no denying that a large portion of the
electric bill goes to delivery charges, which includes maintenance.
When there is a storm that knocks out the electricity, you say, I hope
that my payments to maintain that electrical infrastructure will
restore electricity before the food in my refrigerator/freezer spoils.
Where I live, electrical service is pretty good, though I still lose
power maybe once every year or two.

My house also uses natural gas. My gas bill, like my electrical bill,
has a separate (and mostly fixed) charge for delivery, even if no gas
is used. In my lifetime, I do not remember ever losing gas service. Is
the gas company also going to claim that their delivery charge is also
going, in part, to maintaining their infrastructure?

Yes, the gas company here (East Ohio Gas Co.) makes such claims. *And, I
have to say that I don't recall ever having the gas supply fail in my 50+
years. *I have seen the gas company replace rusted pipes in several areas of
the city and, of course, they had to deal with a disaster last year when a
pressure regulator became faulty, put excessive gas pressure on the lines in
one area and started several house fires. *Maintenance of infrastructure was
much talked about then.

Tomsic- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

They also have to swap out meters on a regular schedule
by law here in NJ. I'm not sure how the gas repair/replacement costs
compare to the electric utilities.
On the one hand they are a lot less susceptable to damage from storms
and the like. On the other hand
the repair work would seem to be a lot more involved,
ie excavating, pavement, etc compared to areas where
electric utilities are run on poles above ground. I would
expect that for gas, the overall repair costs are less.

You also have to factor in the cost of the distribution
system that is in place. They still have to depreciate
it, cover any debt that was taken out to install it, etc.