Section 2 – Service

Requirements for Securing Gas Service

  1. Membership Application: All Members shall be required to be a Member of the Cooperative by completing a formal application for gas service on the Cooperative’s standard form. The application for gas service shall constitute a binding contract between the applicant and the Cooperative in conformance to these Terms and Conditions for Supplying Gas Service, and the applicable rate schedule.
  2. Enrollment Fee: Each Member shall be required to pay a non-refundable account set up fee to establish each account in the Member’s name. No enrollment fee shall be charged to establish an account of a surviving spouse of a deceased Member or to relocate an existing service.
  3. Security Deposit: The Cooperative reserves the right to require a security deposit for a residential, commercial or industrial account.
  4. Rate Schedule: The Cooperative shall make the determination of the appropriate rate schedule.
  5. Lease & Affidavit: Members requesting service for disconnected services for nonpayment and/or delinquent services may be required to provide:
    1. Notarized lease document showing name of lessee, address, landlord with contact info, list of all occupants, and start date of the lease
    2. Signed affidavit stating that the person whose name the service was previously in no longer lives at the location and will not be living there in the future

Turning on Gas

The member, after making proper application for service, shall notify the Cooperative when they desire service to be established. In no case, shall member or their agent or employee turn on the gas at the curb valve or the meter valve. Gas shall only be turned on upon the date specified following all applicable inspections and payment of applicable fees, or the earliest possible time thereafter, by an authorized agent of the Cooperative.

Service Not Transferable

No person may commence the use of gas until after making an application for service. In the event of violation of this provision, in addition to other rights of the Cooperative, such person shall be liable for all gas consumed in the premises subsequent to the time at which the Cooperative shall have made a final meter reading for a prior member. Any successor in interest to a member, including without limitation, heirs, executors, administrators, assignees, trustees, guardians, receivers, and conservators, shall be deemed to be a person who must make application for service, provided that successors in interest whose rights arise from death or incompetence of the member shall have 30 days in which to make application.

Information Relative to Service

Information relative to the service that will be supplied at a given location should be obtained from the Member. Cooperative will not be responsible for mistakes of any kind resulting from information given orally, over the telephone, or electronically. However, upon request, the Cooperative will promptly provide confirmation of said information in written form or electronically.

Continuity of Service

The Cooperative shall make reasonable provision to supply gas in sufficient quantity and at adequate and uniform pressure, but does not guarantee constant supply or adequate or uniform pressure. The Cooperative shall not be liable for damages in failure to supply gas or for interruptions in service, unless such failure or such interruption is due to negligence of the Cooperative or its employees. The Cooperative shall be relieved of its obligation to serve and may discontinue or modify service, if such failure or interruption is due to acts of God or the public enemy, military action, wars, insurrections, riots, civil disturbances, vandalism, strikes, fires, floods, washouts, explosions, acts or orders of any civil, judicial or military authorities having proper jurisdiction, public safety, and without limitation by the foregoing accidents, contingencies or other causes beyond the control of the Cooperative, except such as may be caused by negligence of the Cooperative or its employees.

Without incurring any liability therefore, the Cooperative may upon proper notice to its members, also suspend service for such periods as may be reasonably necessary in order to make repairs to or changes in its plant, transmission or distribution systems or other property The Cooperative shall keep a record of any interruption of service affecting its entire system or a major division thereof, including a statement of time, duration and cause of the interruption. When interruptions are planned, the Cooperative will attempt to notify each member affected by the interruption in advance of carrying out the contemplated work, and of approximately how long the interruption will last.

Utilization Factor

The Cooperative’s major supply of natural gas is received from interstate and intrastate pipeline suppliers. Heating value and specific gravity of gases received from the suppliers varies between delivery points and from day to day. These variations are beyond the control of the Cooperative which can only dispatch the gases received.

Priority & Curtailment of Service

The Cooperative recognizes its primary public service obligation to domestic “Human Needs” members. When necessary, due to force majeure conditions, emergency requests, contractual limitations with our interstate gas provider, or at the request of any jurisdictional authority, the Cooperative shall curtail the supply of gas to any member hereunder to the extent necessary to maintain such domestic service.

When curtailment is necessary, the Cooperative shall curtail members in an orderly fashion giving consideration to the characteristics of the members’ usage and market in the following order.

Order of Curtailment

First: Gas service to industrial, certain commercial, or other members in the following order, giving consideration to maintenance gas requirements and availability of alternate fuels:

  1. Service designated as interruptible
  2. Service identifiable as curtailable
  3. Remaining service to industrial members

Second: Gas service to schools, churches, and similar institutions, federal, state, county, municipal and public buildings, office buildings, theatres, stores, restaurants, bakeries and all types of commercial establishments, Except: Gas service to members using gas in boarding and rooming houses, apartment buildings, hotels, hospitals and sanitariums and similar institutions where the element of human welfare and comfort are the predominant requirements.

Third: Remaining members with lowest priority usage being curtailed first, at the Cooperative’s discretion.

Any member, after notification of partial or complete curtailment of their natural gas service, who does not cease usage shall be liable for all gas costs, fines, and/or penalties incurred by the Cooperative, as a result of their unauthorized usage.

Service Not to be Disturbed

No member shall attach or use any appliance which may result in the injection of air, water, or other foreign matter into the Cooperative’s lines and, without prior approval from the Cooperative, no member shall attach or use any appliance which will increase or decrease the pressure in the Cooperative’s lines intermittently to such extent as to interfere with continuous service to other members.

No Member Shall Sell to Another

The member shall not supply or sell gas for use in any premises other than that specified in their application for service.

Access to Members Premises

The Cooperative, its agents, or its employees shall have the right to enter upon a member’s premises only as may be required to make repairs to its equipment or to otherwise remove the source of emergency conditions that are, or that the Cooperative has reason to expect soon will be, endangering the safety, health or welfare of Cooperative employees, the general public, or the safety of the property of the Cooperative or others.

If visitation to the member’s premises is sought for any other purpose, such visitation shall preferably be prearranged by telephone; however, if such prearrangement is not feasible, the Cooperative’s agent or employee seeking entrance to the member’s premises shall approach a responsible adult member of the household, shall identify himself to such person’s satisfaction and shall state the reason for his proposed visitation. Entrance shall not be gained by force or subterfuge or by approach to a child or other irresponsible person. The Cooperative shall be responsible for any damage to the member’s property arising from such visitation, whether negligently, willfully, or inadvertently caused.

Member’s Responsibility

Member assumes all responsibility for property owned by the member on member’s side of the “point of delivery” which shall be assumed to be, unless otherwise agreed, the outlet side of the curb valve. Member shall also be responsible for the service supplied or taken, as well as for the installation and appliances used in connection therewith, and will save Cooperative harmless from and against all claims for injury or damage to persons or property occasioned by or in any way resulting from such service or the use thereof on member’s side of the point of delivery.

Right of Way

Member, without reimbursement, will provide to the Cooperative a satisfactory easement across the property owned or controlled by member for Cooperative’s distribution mains, extensions, laterals, or appurtenances necessary for the supplying of natural gas service.

Charges & Payment for Temporary Service

In addition to regular payments for gas used, the member shall pay the cost for all material, (less salvage), labor, and other necessary expense incurred by the Cooperative in supplying gas service to the member at their request for any temporary purpose or use.

Member Indebted to Cooperative

Service will not be supplied to any premises if at the time of application for service the applicant, or former member residing at residence, is indebted to Cooperative for service previously supplied at the same or other premises until payment of such indebtedness or other arrangement satisfactory to the Cooperative shall have been made.

Establishment of Credit / Security Deposit

The Cooperative reserves the right to require applicants to satisfactorily establish financial responsibility and to make such advance payments and/or deposits as may be necessary for the protection of the Cooperative.

Residential

The Cooperative reserves the right to require a security deposit equal to130% of the average monthly bill for the account based on the prior 12 months history, or an estimated twelve months usage. The security deposit shall be refunded provided the Member maintains a current payment status for 12 consecutive months or no longer receives service.

Security deposits shall be required for, but not limited to, the following:

  1. A beacon score of less than 650 at sign-up
  2. Intentional or unintentional damage to Cooperative property
  3. Disconnection of gas service for non-payment
  4. Filing protection under bankruptcy laws
  5. Theft of gas service
  6. 2 returned checks for insufficient funds within a 12 consecutive month period.

Commercial/Industrial Security

  1. The Cooperative reserves the right to require a security deposit from a Member according to the Ohio Revised Code 4933.17.
  2. A surety bond may be furnished in lieu of a cash deposit for commercial and industrial members and if requested and if the member is qualified as acceptable by reputable insurance underwriters. A guaranteed arrangement for keeping the surety bond in force must be agreed upon and the minimum amount of the surety bond must be no less than twice the anticipated or current billing. The surety bond shall be subject to the approval of the Cooperative in its sole discretion and the bond shall be in the form as approved by the Cooperative, and shall specifically provide that it shall not be cancelled or otherwise rendered ineffective by principal thereof or the surety except upon 60 days prior notice thereof given in writing to the Cooperative. Failure to have a valid bond in force and effect shall be considered a breach of contract for the furnishing of gas service to the member and the Cooperative shall, in its discretion, be entitled to any remedy as otherwise provided, but specifically including the right to terminate gas service.

The Cooperative reserves the right at any time to re-evaluate the adequacy of a deposit and/or credit worthiness of the member and adjust the deposit accordingly. Simple interest at 3% shall accrue on deposits held by the Cooperative.

Upon termination of gas service to any member for any reason, the security deposit is applied to any unpaid amount owed the Cooperative before refunding any remaining balance of the deposit to the member.

Right to Shut Off Gas

The Cooperative shall have the right to discontinue service and the right to disconnect and remove from the premises of any consumer the meter and any other property belonging to the Cooperative for any of the following reasons or purposes:

  1. Nonpayment of bills when due or within any grace period established or granted by the Cooperative in accordance with these rules and regulations.
  2. Nonuse of gas for a period of 180 days or more except when reasons for such nonuse are made known to the Cooperative.
  3. Fraudulent representation or practice, including misrepresentation on any application for service.
  4. Whenever deemed necessary by the Cooperative for safety reasons, but with service to be restored as promptly as possible after suitable corrections are made
  5. Willful or flagrant violation of these Terms and Conditions as they may be amended from time to time by the Cooperative or Rules and Regulations of any governmental authority having jurisdiction .
  6. At the request of the member

Change of Tenancy, Ownership, or Discontinuance of Service

At such time as the Cooperative is notified of a change of tenancy, ownership, or member discontinues service, whether such notice is given by the member or otherwise, the Cooperative shall make a final meter reading and prepare a final bill. The former member is responsible for all service supplied to the premises until such notice has been given and Cooperative has had a reasonable time to make a final meter reading. Reasonable time is defined as being not less than 2 regular business days after notification has been given to Cooperative.

  1. Transfer of uninterrupted service to a new tenant or owner will be permitted, upon request of either the former member of the new occupant, providing the new tenant or owner properly applies for service and satisfactorily meets all Cooperative requirements of an applicant for service.
  2. Commencement of service to a new tenant or owner shall not be delayed or denied by Cooperative to such new tenant or owner, which has properly applied for service and has satisfied all proper Cooperative requirements for said service, because of nonpayment of final bill by former member.

Automatic Transfer of Account from Renter to Property Owner

A Member who owns a residence or business but rents it to other Members periodically may have the account automatically revert to his name without disconnection at the request of the renter, by completing the appropriate form available at the Cooperative’s office.