Hearing planned on Havre Pipeline service

Many natural gas consumers served by Havre Pipeline Co. are complaining that their service is deteriorating, and they want help from the company to help find and pay for new sources of energy.

They found a supporter in the Montana Consumer Counsel, whose advisers suggest that it is the pipeline company's responsibility to help consumers, mostly farmers in rural areas of Blaine and Hill counties, make the transition, most likely to propane.

The Montana Public Service Commission will hold a hearing on the consumer counsel's recommendation in Havre, probably in October, said Commissioner Travis Kavulla, R-Great Falls, who represents the Hi-Line.

But NorthWestern Energy, which owns 87 percent of the pipeline company, says it is not responsible for the conversion.

Kavulla said Havre Pipeline agreed to provide natural gas service to the landowners many years ago when they agreed to grant leases and rights of way for pipelines to go through their properties.

The pipeline company has gone through several ownership changes in recent years.

As wells became depleted, the pressure has decreased in the lines, and many customers are feeling the effects, he said. In the winter, pipelines often freeze over, Kavulla said.

This has happened in other parts of the state, Kavulla said. But the pipeline companies usually help property owners convert to other forms of energy. NorthWestern Energy hasn't done that so far.

Kavulla said that when NorthWestern purchased the pipeline company in December 2013, it did so "with its eyes wide open," and should have known that it was responsible for the conversion assistance.

"This has gone on - in my view - entirely too long," he said.

In a filing with the PSC, energy expert George Donkin, hired by the Montana Consumer Counsel, said the pipeline company has a responsibility to provide adequate service to its customers. If it's unable to, it should negotiate a buyout agreement with the property owners, should pay the property owners to convert to propane, electricity or wood.

Havre Pipeline could then file to abandon its line, he said.

But NorthWestern spokesman Butch Larcombe said the deal signed with the customers was not like those in other parts of the state, and NorthWestern's predecessor companies never agreed to help customers secure other forms of energy.