CenterPoint Energy wants permission from state regulators to establish a “renewable natural gas” pilot program. The utility’s Becca Virden says customers would have the option to pay an additional monthly amount, above and beyond the market rate for conventional natural gas. “That is put into the renewable natural gas program to help the company purchase renewable natural gas for our customer base in Minnesota,” she says.
CenterPoint says if approved by the Public Utilities Commission, the utility would begin enrolling customers in late spring 2019 and have renewable natural gas added to what’s already in pipelines by the next heating season after that.
Renewable natural gas comes from cleaned and refined methane, which is a byproduct of landfills, ag facilities and wastewater treatment plants.