By Tara DeRock Mahoney
Senior Staff Writer

The City of Madison could potentially pick up several hundred new natural gas customers if it decides to extend its service to the southeastern corner of Morgan and the proposed new Kingston residential development.
   

The Kingston project could eventually total 700 homes in Morgan County and 600 homes in Putnam County. Madison City Manager David Nunn said that he had not yet been in contact with the developers, but he has been contacted by natural gas providers in Putnam who want to know if Madison expects to pick up the business.
   

If Madison opts not to extend its service to that part of the county at this time, another provider could potentially move into the area.
“We’re looking at this very hard,” said Nunn in an interview following Monday night’s regular city council meeting. “We don’t want to miss an opportunity—if we do, it’s gone forever.”
   

The gas business on the Morgan County side of the development is the city’s for the asking, since the entire county is included in Madison’s service delivery area for natural gas, as outlined by the Georgia Public Service Commission. However, bringing the new development online would mean a substantial investment in five or six miles of new gas main—a line which could ultimately serve customers in Kingston, but also everywhere else along that line.
   

“We have an opportunity to get down into that part of the county with an anchor [customer] at the end,” said Nunn. “We haven’t talked to anybody with Kingston yet, it’s very hypothetical. But we’re looking at it.”
   

The Madison gas business is a self-sustaining department that is expected to generate a profit of approximately $400,000 for the city’s general fund in fiscal year 2009, according to city budget documents. The city currently serves just under 1,600 residential and commercial gas customers.