ADRIAN — A proposal on Adrian’s Nov. 4 general election ballot asks voters if they wish to approve a new 30-year franchise agreement for Citizens Gas Fuel Co.
The proposed new agreement is based on the one voters approved in 1995. If approved, it allows Citizens Gas Fuel Co. to operate natural gas service in the city, including purchasing the gas and constructing and maintaining the infrastructure, such as gas lines, for the agreement’s 30-year term.
Among its elements is to establish the rules for how rates are set; if the company wants to seek a rate increase, it would ask the city to establish a gas rate commission to review the increase.
Franchise agreements can be either voter-approved or approved by the city commission.
The latter type of agreement could be in force for any length of time but is revocable by the commission, whereas a voter-approved agreement is irrevocable until it expires. Citizens Gas Fuel Co. accounting manager Joseph Lucey said that’s why the company has always sought a voter-approved agreement.
The company filed its request in June. A public hearing was held Aug. 4, with the city commission voting at that meeting on a resolution to place the measure on the November ballot.
A 60 percent “yes” vote is needed for the agreement to be approved.
The franchise is non-exclusive, but any other company seeking to provide gas in the city would have to build the necessary infrastructure, including gas lines, for its own operations. That makes it a much different proposition than, for example, a competitor internet provider simply laying its own fiberoptic cable.
With a history stretching back almost 170 years, Citizens Gas Fuel Co. is likely the oldest continually operating company in Lenawee County, general manager Bert Fruchey said.
According to the company’s website, the company got its start in 1856 as the Adrian Gas Light Co. At the time, it furnished manufactured gas — a different fuel type than natural gas — to 98 customers in the city.
Citizens Gas Fuel Co. services approximately 18,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in and around Adrian.
The company says it also supports numerous Lenawee County civic organizations and other nonprofits and is investing millions of dollars over the next several years in its infrastructure to ensure it can continue to supply safe and reliable natural gas service.
