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This week, utilities across the nation are celebrating Public Natural Gas Week. For Southeast Gas, it’s a chance to illustrate the role locally owned gas utilities play in supporting our towns and cities. Providing energy is only part of our mission. We have a much larger purpose – to give back. We help our communities grow through annual distribution and many different initiatives, like public school partnerships. Our service area is poised for a period of exponential growth, and we are committed to helping ensure that growth benefits every community we serve.
For more than 70 years, we have ensured families and businesses have peace of mind with safe and reliable natural gas service. Every decision our leadership team makes is guided by one priority: the people we serve.
Municipally owned utilities like Southeast Gas were not created to chase profit margins. They were created to ensure that every community, large or small, could benefit from the opportunities natural gas provides, especially in rural areas.
Public Natural Gas Week is a reminder that public gas systems do far more than deliver energy. We drive economic growth, meet community needs, and build opportunities for tomorrow.
Formed in 1952, Southeast Gas was established alongside dozens of other municipally owned systems across Alabama. While we are proud of our heritage, our focus is on the future. We remain committed to expanding natural gas service across the state, particularly in rural communities that are often overlooked by investor-owned utilities.
What sets public utilities apart is our ability to meet a diverse range of needs across a large area. Some systems serve a single town, tailoring service to its specific needs. Others, like Southeast Gas, cover wide regions with relatively few residential customers spread across large areas. That requires extensive transmission and distribution infrastructure, which in turn makes our systems resilient, flexible, and uniquely responsive to community needs.
Municipally owned systems operate under a unique governance structure that keeps decision-making close to home. These utilities are led by local boards appointed by member towns, making them directly accountable to voters. This ensures that rate-setting remains local, dollars stay local, and investments strengthen local economies. At Southeast Gas, that structure drives growth through annual distributions, scholarships, public school partnerships, industrial site development, and job creation through business recruitment and industrial support.
Keeping this model in place is especially critical for rural communities. Local oversight and ratemaking have proven successful for more than 70 years. Changes to this model would result in outside interference and would add costs that ultimately fall on towns and ratepayers. Municipal regulation remains the most practical and successful approach for municipal utilities.
Public gas systems are committed to serving customers and strengthening Alabama communities. With local accountability, Southeast Gas provides reliable service and unmatched community investment – today and for the future.