By Associated Press - Wednesday, March 1, 2017

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) - Juneau’s privately owned electric utility is holding off on plans to bring natural gas to Alaska’s capital city due to lower oil prices.

Alaska Electric Light & Power’s owner, Washington-state-based Avista, had expressed interest in shipping liquefied natural gas from British Columbia to Juneau as a way to save customers money, Alaska’s Energy Desk reported (https://bit.ly/2lyHNJk) Tuesday.

That was a few years ago when natural gas cost half as much as oil, but things have changed with the drop in oil prices.

“A barrel of oil has dropped significantly, and so the price of heating fuel in Juneau has reduced the margin between natural gas and heating oil,” said Alaska Electric President Tim McLeod.

He said the company could not justify spending $170 million on the project at a time when Alaska’s economy is on the decline.

Juneau’s employees are “not really so worried about finding a way to reduce the cost of heating their homes,” McLeod said, “they’re concerned about having a job in a few years.”

Natural gas could be an option for Juneau once the economy improves, McLeod said.

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Information from: KSKA-FM, https://www.kska.org

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