Next Generation Natural Gas is sourced from environmentally conscious producers, critical to achieving a sustainable, affordable energy future while reducing greenhouse gas emissions
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn., Aug. 3, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- With a continued commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Chattanooga Gas announced today that 100% of the natural gas supply for its residential and small business customers is procured, transported or delivered by companies that are reducing their methane emissions.
Chattanooga Gas has entered into an agreement with Williams' Sequent Energy Management resulting in its residential and small business customers' supply being sourced with "Next Generation Natural Gas," also known as certified low-emission natural gas.
This Next Generation Natural Gas transaction will allow Chattanooga Gas to support an estimated minimum annual emissions reduction savings of approximately 646 tonnes of methane, or 16,152 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is roughly equivalent to removing the emissions from more than 3,500 gasoline-powered automobiles from the road for one year.
The procurement supports economy-wide decarbonization efforts across the natural gas supply chain and is complementary to Chattanooga Gas' sustainability efforts, including its goal to achieve net zero GHG emissions from its operations by 2050.
"At Chattanooga Gas, we are committed to reducing GHG emissions across our value chain, both upstream through the gas production and transmission systems that supply our gas and downstream to our customers, in addition to our own operations," said Pedro Cherry, president and CEO of Chattanooga Gas. "Our Next Generation Natural Gas supply is certified to be produced with lower GHG emissions than traditional natural gas supply. Our customers can feel good knowing we have strong relationships with environmentally conscious suppliers focused on reducing methane emissions efficiently and effectively during the production cycle."
The procurement is also a result of the Tennessee Natural Gas Innovation Act, Senate Bill 1959, which was passed and signed into law in 2022. The state legislation enables natural gas utilities to build and procure innovative natural gas resources including, but not limited to, farm gas, biogas, renewable natural gas and renewable natural gas attributes, hydrogen, carbon capture, qualified offsets, Next Generation Natural Gas and energy efficiency resources.
The legislation also allows the Tennessee Public Utility Commission the authority to authorize a mechanism to recover costs related to incremental innovative natural gas costs to procure resources from third parties, while the total incremental costs cannot exceed 3% total annual cost of gas.
"As we look to a low-carbon energy future, Williams is committed to leading our industry with credible solutions to benefit our customers," said Chad Zamarin, executive vice president of Corporate Strategic Development for Williams. "We are proud to work with Chattanooga Gas to provide clean energy solutions through our NextGen Gas program that proves the quality of low-carbon intensity natural gas. Through our industry-leading Sequent marketing platform and large-scale infrastructure network, we are committed to connecting the best U.S. production basins with credible low-carbon solutions that help our customers meet their sustainability goals."
Chattanooga Gas' milestone is one of several similar efforts underway at utilities across the country owned by Southern Company Gas. Southern Company Gas subsidiary and Chattanooga Gas sister company Virginia Natural Gas first procured Next Generation Natural Gas for its customers in 2019, and today up to one-half of its customers' energy demands are being supplied with this lower-emissions product. Southern Company Gas' Illinois-based utility, Nicor Gas, has also sourced fuel from environmentally conscious suppliers.
This system-wide initiative at Southern Company Gas is complementary to the business's sustainability efforts, including its long-term effort to reach net zero GHG gas emissions from its operations by 2050. For more information on sustainability efforts at Southern Company Gas and its utilities in Tennessee, Georgia, Illinois and Virginia, visit www.southerncompanygas.com/resources.
About Chattanooga Gas
Chattanooga Gas is one of four natural gas distribution companies of Southern Company Gas, a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company (NYSE: SO). Chattanooga Gas provides retail natural gas sales and transportation services to approximately 70,500 customers in Hamilton and Bradley counties in southeast Tennessee. The Chattanooga Gas service area includes the communities of Chattanooga, Cleveland, Red Bank, East Ridge, Lookout Mountain and Signal Mountain. For more information, visit chattanoogagas.com.
About Southern Company Gas Southern Company Gas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based Southern Company (NYSE:SO), America's premier energy company. Southern Company Gas serves approximately 4.4 million natural gas utility customers through its regulated distribution companies in four states with approximately 600,000 retail customers through its companies that market natural gas. Other nonutility businesses include investments in interstate pipelines and ownership and operation of natural gas storage facilities. For more information, visit southerncompanygas.com.
SOURCE Chattanooga Gas