HARRISBURG - A Fayette County funeral home is losing its natural gas as it tries to expand its operation to include a crematory and heat for available apartments on the property.
Upgrading its lines to extend to the Burhans-Crouse Funeral Home in Dunbar would cost $300,000, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania estimated before abandoning that plan. Instead, it offered owner Cathy Crouse $20,000 to defray the cost of converting to another fuel source like propane.
Though she says converting the property to electric power will cost six times that, the Commonwealth Court on March 5 found Columbia has every right to discontinue its natural gas service to her.
She resisted the idea she could convert to propane, which the court agreed with, but found that electric is an appropriate alternative power source. The court affirmed a ruling by the state Public Utility Commission.
"We find that Columbia met its burden of proof by showing that its losses could not be cured by the granting of a reasonable rate increase," the PUC found.
"Here, Columbia articulated that its rates must be just, reasonable and prudently incurred in order to be eligible for recovery... The cost to replace the main line at approximately $300,000 to serve one customer vastly outweighs the revenue [Columbia] expects to be collected from that customer, resulting in a deficiency other customers would be expected to subsidize, which is unreasonable."
It's an unfortunate situation for Burhans-Crouse Funeral Home, which has operated since 1902. The property on which it is located also includes five apartments for rent, one of which is currently occupied.
Crouse has spent time and money remodeling the other units since 2021. Her plan was to install a natural gas-powered crematory and resume renting the apartments.
But Columbia has its own problems. Judge Anne Covey noted an "extensive leakage history" caused by pre-1982 plastic pipe that must be replaced because of its "brittle tendencies."
The PUC has approved its long-term infrastructure plan that would replace the plastic pipe and increase gas pressure from low to medium.
Getting the new pipe to the funeral home would involve going through a portion of railroad. Spending $300,000 on doing so was not an attractive option for Columbia, considering it was experiencing an annual revenue deficiency of almost $32,000 at the time.
"Columbia analyzed several options before seeking abandonment," Covey wrote.
"Columbia first considered replacing the main line along its current location, attached to the downstream side of the bridge crossing Dunbar Creek along Connellsville Street.
"Columbia determined it was unable to meet the railroad's shoring requirements for excavation within the railroad's right-of-way."
Another route to the funeral home had Columbia's main line being attached to the Woodvale Street bridge, which couldn't happen because of the bridge's quality and structure.
Crouse objected to the discontinuation of her service, but an administrative law judge, the PUC and now the Commonwealth Court all ruled Columbia had met the legal standard for doing so.