Alice Pickering
Linwood Area Reporter

The question about Xcel Energy providing natural gas service to Boettcher Farm Preserve housing development has been turned over to the Minnesota Commerce Department.

Recently Steve Strandlund, who is developing the property, and Mike Parker, chairman of Linwood Town Board, met with Xcel representatives and the Public Utilities Commission.

Linwood supervisors approved the final plat for the 93-unit development in April 2005, but Strandlund later hit a snag.

Xcel turned down his request to run a natural gas main into the development, although it provides natural gas service to the other developments in the area. Its gas mains are placed in a way to effectively cut off service from other natural gas providers. The Xcel gas main is 300 feet east of the eastern border of Phase III of the development.

Strandlund said then that the company policy is to bring gas mains in to ìhigher density areas.î Rationale appears to be preference for providing service to housing units with greater density; condominiums and townhouses.

According to Strandlund, local Xcel officials believe it makes sense to have the gas service run in to the site.

He had offered to pay for the main to run into the property.

On May 10, 2005, Michael Mayerchak, account executive for Xcel, told supervisors that regulations prohibit Xcel from extending gas service that would unduly burden existing customers.

Even when a developer offers to pay the difference to extend the main, the company cannot charge the full difference to the developer, he said.

The company can justify a certain load, number of homes-per-acre, and give the developer credit for 25 percent of the homes. Mayerchak recognized the dilemma and acknowledged the formula is written for city lots, more in the line of six homes per acre.

New housing developments in Linwood have a minimum 2.5-acre size requirement.

Parker said his impression is that Xcel officials simply do not want to change their position about allowing gas main extension into the development. It is a matter of tariffs, he said.

However, Parker observed that Xcel ìdidnít say noî to the extension. Apparently the PUC cannot understand why Xcel will not let Strandlund put in the gas mains, officials said.

Parker said he understood from the discussion that Xcel fears that precedent will be set if Strandlund succeeds in securing natural gas service for the development. According to Parker, 48 other situations similar to the one in Linwood exist.

The Minnesota Commerce Department is to investigate further and another meeting will be scheduled in two or three weeks. Strandlund attended the Linwood meeting on April 25 to review the matter.

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