Natural gas line a half block away. Sharing cost to get it extended & other costs? (Boston: HOA, broker)

[Allharv]

My house currently has oil heat, but I'd like to switch to natural gas. I called National Grid today, and they informed me that there's an existing gas line which ends half a block down my street. By plugging in the closest address which has service and my address, they said that it'd cost ~$22,000 to extend the line to my house if I paid all my myself.

Between my house and the closest house with natural gas, there are about 17 houses, and National Grid said that the cost could be split among the neighbors however we wished. I didn't have time to go into further details, and I'm wondering if any of you can share you experiences with a similar situation. I don't expect that all or even a majority of neighbors would be interested in splitting the cost, but I'm hopeful that, particularly after this cold winter, some people would be see how an upfront cost can result in a longterm gain. I'm wondering:

1. When neighbors mutually want to get natural gas installed, do the residents need to talk with each other to gauge interest and come up with a list of exactly who is going to participate, or is the gas company willing to put out a survey to get more formal data for themselves?
2. If enough of us were willing to commit to natural gas, would they possibly waive the cost of extending the line, or are those days over?
3. What incentive would people have to be willing to share the cost? That is, if I were a house in the middle and I got the feeling that some other people really wanted natural gas, could I just let them pay for it and then hook it up to my house without needing to pay for the line in the street?
4. If some of us paid to have the line built out and some other houses later signed up for natural gas service, could the natural gas company potentially take a fair share of the original cost from them and then refund some of the money to us?
5. Once the gas line is in front of the house on the street, approximately how much does it cost for the rest of the labor & equipment (let's say just for heat) to have it installed? I've typically seen that the gas company will do a certain number of feet from the street to the house for free.
6. What successful strategies have any of you seen/used to get neighbors to participate in a natural gas conversion? Based on what I've observed in terms of the relative cost of oil vs. gas, I think most people can expect to at least cut their heating bills in half or more, but I understand that the upfront cost of conversion or hassle can turn some people off. What statistics can I cite that say how much having natural gas may increase a home's value as compared to oil?

Thank you!

[gf2020]

We're doing exactly this on my street right now. Six neighbors have come together to work with National Grid to bring natural gas service to our homes.

1. The neighbors need to organize themselves. One person acts as the point person and collects the application forms from the other interested parties. Incredibly, the gas company does nothing to actively promote additional gas customers.

2. From what we have experienced, those days are over.

3. Hook up later and avoid sharing in the initial installation cost? That is certainly a possibility.

4. That would not happen. The gas company is not going to broker any deals between neighbors.

5. I don't have that information yet, but in talking with other people who have converted from an oil boiler to a new, high efficiency gas fired boiler and removed their oil tank, the total cost is around $7000.

6. I don't know that you can accurately link an increase in property value to having gas versus oil. Certainly, lower operating costs will be seen as a benefit to a potential buyer and that may assist with a future sale. The National Grid web site probably has operating cost information.

[SpringMom3]

We are looking into the same thing. The quote we got was 12k to extend to our house and then another 10ish for the equipment and other stuff. The line is only about 4 houses away. They also told me to work with the neighbors.

I think if a neighbor does not participate, and then the line is in front of their house, they could install it for free and not end up having to pay anything. that would be pretty crappy if they did that right after you got yours installed.

I am thinking of putting something in every neighbor's mailbox about the situation and listing out savings of gas (you can pull up some calculators online.)

However, I have heard that the best time to do this is in the winter, when the bills are very painful for everyone, not in the spring/summer when everyone has forgotten how bad the oil bills are.

I think there are some MA incentives to conversion too that you can look into and document in the letter you write to your neighbors. Include your email for all correspondence and be the point person.

I think about it as "I would LOVE it if someone approached me about this, so hopefully the neighbors have had this on their mind too."

[Parsec]

I have also looked into this recently. We have 4 houses on our street still on oil heat and the cost of extending the gas line from the closest house with gas service is $20,000. 2 of the neighbors are not interested for various reasons, so I am balking at the cost of $10,000 + extending the line to my house + the cost of a new furnace. I was told it would be approximately $20-25k in total. I am now seriously considering a pellet stove for next winter.

[greengiraffe00]

We also just purchased a home with oil heat, and would like to convert to gas. The upfront cost to convert is intimidating, as previous posters have cited. I wonder at what point (# years?) would one break even doing the conversion. That might be a figure to present to the neighbors, and something I would want to know as well.

[495neighbor]

Parsec, I think its a good move long term going over to gas from oil. 1) Increased value of home when you go to sell if ever 2) cleaner and healthier to live for you and your family 3) gas cooking is the best 4) immediate heating bill savings.

The last time I lived with oil heating was 20 years ago, and I choked on splitting a $100 or $200 a month bill will my roomies back then.

[johngolf]

In 1998 when I was living in MA, the local gas company was willing to run gas into our HOA (175 homes) if enough signed up to convert to gas. We were all electric with heat pump HVAC (they suck for heat in the Boston area) so many jumped at it. Gas in and furnace conversion was about $4K. Many felt the cost would pay for itself within 3-5 years. Remember it effected the heat cost, not the AC cost. I did not convert. I found that with a good programmable thermostat my wife and I could control our HVAC costs. Of course there was only we two and we were both were gone weekdays. I did strike a deal with the gas company for a gas hot water heater so they would run gas to my townhouse so at least the line and meter were there if someone wanted to convert the HVAC system to gas. The next owner did.

Personally, I would not buy a home with oil heat. Of course unlike many New Englanders, I would not buy a home without central air.

[Allharv]

Parsec, from what I understand about the upfront and ongoing costs of pellet stoves, I still think it'd be worth it to go gas, both financially and in terms of convenience. Though I hear you, that cost is pretty substantial, and I'd be reluctant to go for it in the 20k range, but I plan on staying in my house for a long time, so it'd still be worth it long term.

It's tough for me to estimate exactly how much people will save since everyone's heating bills are different and we have a large variation in sizes/styles of houses on the block, but I think I could at least say, "if you're spending this much on oil per year," here's how much you'd likely spend on gas.

Out of curiosity, if it were you, would you prefer to receive an envelope in your mailbox from your neighbor or a personal visit? My brother said that he'd be turned off by an in-person visit and be suspicious of the person's motives.

[MikePRU]

Originally Posted by Allharv

Out of curiosity, if it were you, would you prefer to receive an envelope in your mailbox from your neighbor or a personal visit? My brother said that he'd be turned off by an in-person visit and be suspicious of the person's motives.

Honestly if I were your neighbor, I would probably prefer a phone call. It's more personal than a note in my mailbox but not as intrusive as a knock on the door. The only problem is fewer and fewer people seem to have a home phone these days.

[Allharv]

Yeah, I'd have a hard time doing that because I don't know the phone numbers of many of my neighbors, but I was planning on calling the people I know.