Two more cities in eastern North Dakota will soon be receiving natural gas service.
Arvilla and Larimore will be receiving natural gas from Dakota Natural Gas, a subsidiary of Greater Minnesota Gas.
That company started working on projects like this in 2019, when it worked with the city of Drayton.
"It took a while for that project to come together," said Dakota Gas president Cody Chilson. "Dakota Natural Gas started serving Drayton in 2020."
Chilson said in 2021, service was expanded to Hillsboro and Mayville, and in 2022, it was extended to Portland. He said how it works is a city or a large customer will approach the company to have it provide natural gas service.
"We reach out to the major energy users, to see if there is interest," Chilson said. "If there is, we get commitments from them, that they will use natural gas, and we can take those commitments to our bank and get funding for the project."
Chilson said the larger business customers have helped drive the demand for natural gas. He said it’s very important for economic development – and for the homeowner.
"A commercial customer would typically save at least 20 percent on their energy costs, versus propane or fuel oil," Chilson said. "For residential customers, they will save about 50 percent on their energy costs."
Chilson said outside of the Langdon-Arvilla project, there are no other projects for 2024 as of yet – but he said there is still a lot of interest from eastern North Dakota communities for natural gas service.
