SYSTEM STATS & FAST FACTS

• Number of Customers: 23,544

• Total Revenue (2021): $16M

• Top Customer (2021): Strawser Construction

• Founded: 1890

LARGEST MUNICIPAL GAS SYSTEM IN OHIO

ANNUAL INVESTMENT IN MAIN REPLACEMENT: $600,000+

MILES OF DISTRIBUTION

PIPES: 282

NUMBER OF INTERSTATE SUPPLY

PIPELINE CONNECTIONS: 2

Because of our long term focus on rate stability, Hamilton has had one of the lowest customer gas costs in Ohio for over a decade.

- Nathan Perry | Director of Business Services

Why You Shouldn’t Pass on Municipal Gas & the Importance of Hamilton’s Number 2 Gas Customer

There are plenty of benefits to having a large municipal system that sells a significant amount of natural gas like being able to participate in the ‘municipal aggregation program’ which saves all of our customers about 30 cents per unit of gas used. Since this program was instituted, it has saved our customers more than $20 million total. Another benefit is having significant guaranteed buying power behind us when we negotiate long-term bulk purchase contracts - a practice that has proven very beneficial for our customers.

There are even more benefits in store through our second largest customer, the Hamilton Electric Department. The Electric Department runs two ‘Peak Demand’ natural gas power plants in the City when demand reaches its highest points throughout the year. While they only run for about 80 hours in a year, in that time become our 2nd largest natural gas customer. Their impact on our rates is critical. Combined, the plants provide about 44 megawatts of power locally that Hamilton does not have to transmit over the grid. This effectively lowers our transmission and capacity costs, which are set annually by the amount of power we take from the grid on the grid’s highest use days each year. This allows us to sell a lot of gas and save on electric transmission and capacity costs, while selling the power we have outside of Hamilton at some of the highest prices of the year: a win, win, win for Hamilton Utility customers!

The City of Hamilton has one of the largest, most affordable and reliable municipal natural gas systems in the State of Ohio. However, getting there was not an easy journey. In 1855, Hamilton City Council granted a franchise to the Hamilton Gas Light and Coke Co., a private company that made artificial gas supplying only up to 60 city streetlights at the time.

After more than 30 years of customer complaints about rates and services provided by this company, a city-operated gas plant was proposed by city council and approved by Hamilton residents in 1888. The municipal gas works began operating in 1890, but closed soon after in 1905, leaving the city to rely on a private supplier once again.

Five years later, natural gas once again flowed into the city’s 48-mile system, however, numerous problems, including leaks, occurred throughout the next 16 years as the city and gas system experienced a period of rapid industrial and residential growth.

As the demand for natural gas increased during the 1920s, questions began to arise about whether municipal ownership of our gas operations was favorable or affordable for Hamilton residents. This led to a special election in February 1926 where Hamilton voters were asked to decide between a city gas operation or changing to a privately-owned one. Despite its problems and shortfalls, citizens voted in favor of keeping the municipal system. Hamilton continued to heavily invest in its gas system at a loss through the depression and as World War II was reaching its peak the system finally became financially solvent and stable - nearly 55 years after its founding.