Publicly owned natural gas provider, Clearwater Gas, celebrates a century of service
Known for safety, reliability, and second-to-none customer support, Clearwater Gas has successfully served communities in and around the City of Clearwater for over 100 years. The company celebrated its anniversary in style, as Gas System Executive Director, Brian Langille, enthuses: “As of May 2024, we’ve been operating for over a century. To mark the occasion, we had a huge celebration with all our staff, local elected officials and key customers, as well as our vendor network. It was so meaningful to get all the city departments together to celebrate our achievements.”
An ongoing commitment to excellence, and steady expansion, has helped secure the company’s long-lasting legacy, as Brian confirms: “Continual growth has been
crucial to our success. Without a steady upward trajectory, it can be difficult to keep momentum. Alongside that, we’ve always prioritized safety in all our operations. Our strict safety protocols mean that we can build trust with customers and meet industry standards with ease — on top of being able to protect our people, which is of course paramount. Our exemplary safety record has helped Clearwater Gas build a strong positive relationship with the local community. Our culture puts training first and foremost; no one goes out in the field until they have put in the hours, and we feel they can deliver our service reliably and safely.
“Building relationships is also important when it comes to our work in the commercial sector. We’ve been able to build connections with several prominent business leaders in the Clearwater region, through various events, sponsorships, and partnerships. That’s really helped to promote our product and bring us into the wider community.
“As of right now, we have approximately 32,000 customers in our system. That includes a number of properties within the City of Clearwater, but we also serve well outside the city limits. There are 16 other municipal areas provided for by Clearwater, meaning we have around ten times the service area of the city. Our service territory is around 350 square miles — even with 75 percent of our customers being located outside Clearwater itself.”
Superior customer service
Unlike many of its competitors, Clearwater Gas is publicly owned. Brian discusses how this has transformed the company culture: “We serve natural gas to our customers and give a dividend to the city every year from our earnings. Those payments cover ownership and operation and provide the city with benefits for operating a gas utility on behalf of its residents. It’s relatively uncommon for cities to own and operate gas utilities. Usually, operations are privatized and happening on a much larger scale. Private operations often have hundreds of thousands, even millions of customers under one entity. As a municipal owned company, we are on the smaller side.
“But there’s more to success than sheer numbers. We’ve got longevity. For over 100 years we’ve been growing and maintaining our system at a steady pace. The limitations on our territory have given us an increased focus on quality and service, which has supported us for many years, and will continue to provide a strong foundation for years to come.”
With the company’s unique ownership bringing it closer to the community, Clearwater Gas prioritizes customer service above all else. “We have two separate customer service areas. There’s the billing side of things, which is essentially a separate city department which manages our daily finances — they’re in charge of activation, deactivation, meter readings, and so on. Then, we have our own department within Clearwater Gas. Through our department, we handle all customer enquiries. We primarily schedule installations, servicing, and repair work, but there are a few other touchpoints for customers if they need to reach us. For instance, we can provide appliance repair services on commercial and residential establishments.
“Typically, private gas companies will run a line up the side of a property, and then the residents or landlords would be responsible for managing their own appliances. With us, that’s not the case. Customers still get a full-service offering, and that includes lifelong support with in-house utilities.
“Our priority is making sure everything is organized effectively on behalf of the customer. We have trained technicians who provide excellent customer service when they are out on the field, and we have representatives in the office who are always available. Our field technicians are even able to give recommendations on new appliances, so that customers get a whole service experience.
“We often receive applause cards from customers, praising our employees’ attitude and attention to detail. It’s all about keeping the process straightforward by resolving queries quickly and effectively, and providing the guidance customers need,” Brian affirms.
Having earned the trust of its community, Clearwater Gas’ future looks as long and prosperous as its past. In the up-coming years, Brian looks forward to even further expansion, and diversification into new markets: “In five years, I see us continuing to grow. I expect the business will be well over 40,000 customers by that time. I’d also like to see us looking at new business opportunities, potentially in the renewable market. We already offer installation services for gas pipes, and so it wouldn’t be much of a reach for the business to start installing solar panels as well. Looking toward the future, I think that would be a positive step for us
to take,” he concludes.