We’ve talked to people in your community. Here’s what they asked.
We’ve visited the communities where we have expansion plans, and we’ve spoken to community members. Here are answers to some of the questions we’re most often asked.
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We are working to harmonize our connection installation costs across our service territory. At a minimum, the first 20 meters will be installed at no cost. Service and meter installation in excess of this distance will result in an additional charge per meter (plus taxes). It’s best to call your local heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) provider first for an assessment and to submit an application for gas service. Enbridge Gas will assess where your HVAC has requested the meter and determine where the service pipeline can be installed.
A Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractor will provide you with information on what’s involved in switching to natural gas inside your home. Enbridge Gas or one of our qualified contractors will install the natural gas supply to your home, but the HVAC will install and connect your appliances. Find a qualified HVAC contractor.
Modern natural gas appliances are certified to high standards and must undergo rigorous safety testing. Contractors who install natural gas appliances receive special training and are licensed by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority. Enbridge Gas is also required to inspect all appliances before natural gas is introduced into your home for the first time. For your safety, we add a product with a sulphur/rotten egg smell to natural gas so that you can easily identify a natural gas odour in the rare event of a leak. Visit our natural gas safety pages for more information.
Depending on your location, connection costs may vary depending on which gas utility served your area prior to January 1, 2019. This is due to the fact that the two separate gas utility companies (Enbridge Gas Distribution and Union Gas Limited), each had their own separate Ontario Energy Board approved connection policy. We will provide an update if there are changes to our Enbridge Gas connection policy going forward.
If you are in the area previously served by Enbridge Gas Distribution area, Enbridge Gas will provide and install, at no cost, one service line per civic address to new customers provided that:
- The distance between the owner’s property line and the front wall of house/building is 20 metres or less; and
- The distance between the front wall of house/building and the selected meter location is 2 metres or less.
Service and meter installation in excess of these distances will result in additional charges of $32 per metre (plus Applicable Taxes).* Call your local heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) provider first for an assessment and to submit an application for gas service. Enbridge Gas will assess where your HVAC has requested the meter and determine where the service pipeline can be installed.
If you are in the area previously served by Union Gas, Enbridge Gas will provide and install, at no cost, one service line per civic address provided that:
- The distance between the owner’s property line and the meter location is 30 metres or less.
Service and meter installation in excess of these distances will result in additional charges of $45 per metre (plus applicable taxes). These charges will be applied to homeowner/occupant’s utility bill. This distance is measured from the gas meter to the property line, following the path the pipe takes through the ground and around any obstacles such as trees, septic beds, wells and other utilities.
Call your local heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) provider first for an assessment and to submit an application for gas service. Enbridge Gas will assess where your HVAC has requested the meter and determine where the service pipeline can be installed – it may not be able to take the shortest path.
Please reach out to one of our Community Expansion Advisors to discuss how to get started.
We recommend you wait until your natural gas service is installed and your gas meter is activated before disconnecting your current heating source. Your Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractor will work with Enbridge Gas to ensure your natural gas system is ready before they switch your appliances to natural gas and disconnect your other heating source.
In some areas, buildings are located far apart from one another and are a significant distance from a main natural gas pipeline. This can result in additional costs which may impact your decision to switch to natural gas.
During the construction, we will not be expanding to streets that are not part of the initial project. This allows us to ensure we can complete the project scope. In future years, we will continue to expand natural gas based on customer interest. Click here to learn more about making the switch to natural gas if it’s not on your street.
In some areas, it could be difficult to access the natural gas pipelines that are underground either because of land conditions or the pipeline is too far. In these cases, we may not be able to connect your home to natural gas.
Once natural gas is available on your street, Enbridge Gas will continue to connect customers in the following years. We hope to continue to add new streets and connect to the community expansion pipe. This is called a main extension. Every customer that attaches to the new community expansion pipe will be required to pay the Expansion Surcharge until the end of the term. The sooner you connect, the more you save.
New customers are charged a one-time account opening charge. This charge helps offset the cost to inspect your new gas line and set up your account. Every customer that attaches to the new community expansion pipe will be required to pay the Expansion Surcharge until the end of the term. For business customers, the charge for each service may be priced separately based on the amount of natural gas used and size of your service line and gas meter.
Once natural gas is available in your community, we hope to continue to add new streets onto the community expansion pipe. We call this a main extension. Visit your community page for contact information and to request a quote to have gas main extended in front of your home. If you have neighbours located between your home and the natural gas connection, and they also choose to connect to natural gas, you could reduce your costs by sharing the cost of bringing natural gas to your street.
Every customer that attaches to the new community expansion pipe will be required to pay the surcharge until the end of the term. We will include the surcharge to offset your cost during the economic analysis of your main extension
It takes significant investment to build the infrastructure to bring natural gas to your community. This system expansion surcharge is your individual contribution, and a way to spread the costs out over time. The expansion surcharge is based on your home’s consumption and will fluctuate seasonally with your gas use.
On average, most homes will pay about $550 a year ($0.23 per cubic metre). If your home used 199 cubic metres of gas in one month, the surcharge would be $45.77 (199 m3 x $0.23 = $45.77). Even with the surcharge, you’ll still save on your annual home and water heating costs depending on your existing fuel.
Similar to a mortgage amortized over a number of years, the length of time a surcharge will be applied to customers in the community can vary, but will not be more than 40 years. The time period and surcharge are based on the cost to build the new infrastructure, which depends on how far the community is located from an existing pipeline. Every customer that attaches to the new community expansion pipe will be required to pay the Expansion Surcharge until the end of the term. The sooner you connect, the more you save.
Please reach out to one of our Community Expansion Advisors to discuss the system expansion surcharge and to compete an individual cost comparison.
To enable us to extend natural gas to rural areas where the cost of building the pipeline is more expensive than the revenue it generates, the province’s energy regulator—the Ontario Energy Board—has approved an additional new customer charge of 23 cents for each cubic meter of natural gas used for a limited time period. The length of time this charge remains in effect varies by community because the overall cost to serve each community differs based on things like the distance of the community from an existing natural gas pipeline. Every customer that connects to the new community expansion pipe will pay the surcharge until the term ends. Even with the expansion surcharge, you will still see savings on home and water heating by switching to natural gas.
Enbridge Gas will meet all safety standards and codes for pipeline depth, which is no less than 0.6 metres of ground cover for the main pipelines along streets, and 0.3 metres for smaller services running from the street to individual homes and businesses.
We do our best to minimize any digging on your property. However, if there is any required digging or damage that results from the installation, we will restore and repair.
In most cases, the gas meter will be installed on the side of your home. We consider the location of existing equipment, landscaping and accessibility for meter reading and servicing.
For your safety, we work with our authorized partners to have critical underground services located and marked before we install your new natural gas line. In some cases, access to the inside of your home may be required to ensure the gas line will not interfere with other services, such as your sewer connection. Always ensure that any marks, flags or stakes are not moved or tampered with before we install the natural gas line.
Safety is our top priority. Enbridge Gas has been safely delivering reliable and clean natural gas to homes and businesses for 175 years. Our pipelines are designed to meet rigorous safety standards and we have an extensive pipeline integrity management program to ensure that once installed, our pipelines remain in safe operating condition.
We take our responsibility to manage the impacts of our operations on the environment very seriously. We meet or exceed strict government and regulatory requirements, and proactively manage environmental issues to minimize impacts to the environment in the communities where we operate.
* Annual cost and savings estimates are based on rates in effect as of Apr. 1, 2022 for a four-person home using 2,200 or 2,350 cubic metres of natural gas a year, depending on community, for space and water heating. Estimates include a $0.23 per m3 system expansion surcharge for pipeline construction costs. Estimates also include the provincial government’s Fair Hydro Plan reduction for electricity.
