Have you converted your home to all electric—or are you getting really close? Once you’ve transitioned all your gas appliances to efficient electric, you’re ready to join the community of Portlanders who have said goodbye to methane gas in their homes for good. The final step is to have NW Natural cut their gas line at the street and remove the meter from your property. It’s free, and as simple as contacting NW Natural and signing a form.
Ryan Shanahan, Zero Energy Retrofits Manager at Birdsmouth Design Build, had his gas service removed a few years back. According to Ryan, the process was free and easy: “I contacted NW Natural to ask them to remove the meter from my house and inquired about removing the gas line as well. They said they could do it, but I’d have to sign a form acknowledging that it would cost the next homeowner more money to bring gas to the home if they wanted. I said, “That’s precisely the point, please send the form for me to sign! After I signed the form, they came out relatively quickly to remove the meter, then sent a crew out to disconnect the line under the pavement on the street. To my surprise they didn’t dig up the yard and physically remove the line, but in retrospect this was ideal because it meant the only thing I had to do as the homeowner was sign the form. I didn’t even pay a fee!”
When Melanie Plaut was ready to have her gas line disconnected, she decided to have them not just cap off, but actually remove part of the line to her house. Her reasons included discouraging any future owners from reconnecting, minimizing problems in case of earthquake, and decreasing the risk of leakage from the piping to the house. She contacted NW Natural, and says “My memory is it only took them a few weeks to come out … then the crew took two days to dig up the pipe from under the street. They were very cheerful about it!”
Ready to make the cut? Here’s how:
- Contact NW Natural. Here’s an example message: Good afternoon! We’ve fully electrified our home and no longer require gas service for our property. We’d like to have the gas meter removed and the gas line cut. Can you please help me schedule that? Our address is [Your street address].
- You’ll receive a reply from the NW Natural Engineering Technical Coordinator with a brief pdf form to complete and return, along with a description of what to expect.
- After you return the signed form, they’ll let you know the time range when you can expect to have the meter removed and the gas line cut. If you prefer to also have the line removed, you’ll be given contact information for their construction department so you can arrange that.
Getting your gas line cut? We’ll throw you a party!
One of our 2024 resolutions is to celebrate more often! If you arrange with NW Natural to get your gas meter removed and your gas line cut, reach out to let us know. We’d love to stop by with cake for a mini “cut the pipe” party!