Ensuring that natural gas is available for you

The $10.94 MAIN Rider is not based on any one project, but instead, is based on a statewide calculation, in order to keep the cost reasonable for those individual customers that will be billed the Rider. Due to this, builders cannot pay a portion of the contribution to lower the monthly charge. However, if a builder wishes to pay the entire uneconomic portion of their project, the end use customers taking service through that project will not be billed the MAIN Rider.

The $10.94 MAIN Rider is subject to change with Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) authorization. Additionally, the MAIN Rider amount will be recalculated at program year 5 and 10 after SCC review and authorization.

The MAIN Rider is assigned to the service address, not any individual customer account. If someone moves, the next person or company (customer) that takes natural gas service at that service address will continue to pay the MAIN Rider until the 20 year payment period has ended.

There is no effect on existing customers. Only the customers benefiting from the expanded natural gas service will be billed the $10.94 MAIN Rider. Existing customers are not asked to subsidize this cost.

Residential and Small Commercial projects are eligible for inclusion in the MAIN Program. (A small commercial customer include usage levels up to 626.6 Dekatherms annually). Each service address in the MAIN Program will be billed the MAIN Rider for 240 months. The currently approved MAIN Rider is $10.94.

In recent years, costs for materials and labor associated with the installation of new natural gas main pipelines, service lines and associated facilities for new customers in Virginia have steadily increased. This, in turn, has caused the cost of potential expansion projects for natural gas service in locations relatively close to existing mains to increase to a point that builders and developers are electing to choose other energy sources. Left unaddressed, this situation will make accessing growing markets increasingly difficult to serve, and deny consumers the opportunity to enjoy natural gas service.

In 2015, the Virginia General Assembly enacted SB1163/HB1475 (VA Code 56-610 – 56-612) to provide Virginia’s natural gas utilities with a new tool to address the rising costs to extend natural gas mains. Under the legislation, natural gas companies may develop plans to collect the required contribution from the direct beneficiaries of expanded service infrastructure through a per meter charge without being subsidized by existing customers. This is the foundation of our MAIN (Making Access to natural gas Infrastructure Now) program.