On Wednesday, over 70 APGA members participated in a webinar on the new excess flow valve (EFV) rule that is scheduled to take effect April 14. Panelists were Steve Squibb of City Utilities of Springfield, Stephen Mayfield of the City of Tallahassee, and Bradley Walters of City of Rocky Mount. APGA’s John Erickson moderated the panel and opened the webinar with a review of the rule’s requirements.
The rule has three parts. First, effective April 14 utilities must install an EFV on new and replaced services that branch to two residences or that serve multifamily residential of small commercial customers if the meter capacity on the service is 1,000 scfh or less, except if the service sometimes operates below 10 pound pressure or the gas contains contaminants that would interfere with the EFV or maintenance of the service. Second, for new and replaced services with meter capacity over 1,000 scfh the utility must install either an EFV or a manual shut off valve near the connection to the main that is accessible to shut off gas to the service in an emergency. Lastly, utilities must notify existing customers about EFVs and install an EFV is the customer so requests.
The panelists discussed their plans to comply with the rule. The notification requirement was the area with the most differences between panelists. Rocky Mount has decided not to charge customers who request an EFV installation, while both Springfield and Tallahassee intended to impose a fee for retrofitting the EFV. None of the panelists stated they would charge the customer for EFV replacement of maintenance; however, Rocky Mount said they would charge for replacement if it was necessitated by a customer adding additional gas load that exceeded the trip point of the EFV. All three panelists stated they would use a combination of web pages and billing notices to notify customers about EFVs.
John Erickson cautioned that even though the Trump Administration has issued executive orders delaying or halting new regulations, members should be prepared to comply by the April 14 date unless the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issues a formal announcement staying the effective date.
For those who were unable to participate in the webinar it can be viewed at
www.apga.org/webinars. For questions on this article, please contact John Erickson of APGA staff by phone at 202-464-0834 or by email at
jerickson@apga.org.