This year, October 6-12 is Public Natural Gas Week, a time when communities such as ours give recognition to one of their most valuable community assets—their publicly owned natural gas utility. We are dedicating this week to educating our community about the benefits of having a public natural gas utility in addition to promoting the overall benefits of natural gas for your fueling and heating needs. There are approximately 1,000 public natural gas utilities in the United States. Most are small and comprised of a few hundred to a few thousand customers. Despite their size, they have a huge impact on the communities they serve by providing an irreplaceable function of offering clean, affordable and efficient natural gas.
Our customers recognize the need to access reliable energy and having a local public natural gas utility is the best way to do that. There are many other benefits of having a public natural gas utility, for example:
- Public natural gas utilities are directly accountable to the citizens they serve, and decisions regarding your energy needs are made locally through citizen participation instead of being made outside of the community.
- Public natural gas utilities are locally controlled operations, which ensures that rates remain competitive and affordable. This is especially reassuring as energy and fuel prices continue to rise and affect your family’s bottom line.
- Lastly, public natural gas can play a valuable role in helping broaden our tax base and helps local dollars stay at home. We also work with local financial institutions and make purchases from local businesses. This, in turn, improves the local economy and creates jobs.
We are here for our community and invite you to join us for our Public Awareness Meeting on October 15 at 5:00 p.m. at the City of Red Bay Senior Center. If you have any questions regarding your public natural gas utility or your upcoming energy needs, please feel free to reach out to the Red Bay Water and Gas Department at 256-356-8622.
